Sarajevo: Two Tires Slashed on Car With Belgrade Plates
An unknown person slashed two tires on a Belgrade-registered car in Sarajevo's Breka neighborhood. A Serb rights committee lists similar cases going back to 2022.
For drivers from Serbia planning a trip to Sarajevo, a report from the Breka neighborhood carries more weight than it would on its own: in the night between Sunday and Monday, October 11 to 12, an unknown person slashed two tires on a car with Belgrade registration plates. According to Srna, the tourists who arrived in the city in the vehicle are from Serbia, and their names have not been released. The available materials do not include a police confirmation of the incident, so this account rests on a statement from the Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and on remarks carried by Srna.
What does the Committee say about earlier cases?
Djordje Radanovic, chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the FBiH, recalled that this is not the first time and that there has been a series of similar cases. The Committee lists four earlier ones:
- August 22, 2022, central Sarajevo: tires slashed on a vehicle from Belgrade
- January 2023: all tires slashed on five vehicles with Belgrade, Novi Sad and Uzice plates
- June 14 this year, central Sarajevo: all four tires slashed on a vehicle with Belgrade plates
- June 17 this year, Grbavica: all four tires slashed on a car with Serbian plates, three days after the previous case
In his statement, Radanovic said:
“The Committee for the Protection of Serb Rights in the FBiH regularly keeps a record of attacks on Serbs and Serb identity in the FBiH.”
Unlike the June reports, where all four tires were damaged, two were slashed in Breka.
What does historian Aleksandar Rakovic say?
Historian Aleksandar Rakovic told Srna that such acts fit a “Croatian scenario,” and he sees hatred of Serbs as the only reason. He said:
“That is the only reason, to deepen the hatred and send a message that Serbs are not welcome, and in a city where a little over 30 years ago they lived in the hundreds of thousands.”
Rakovic added that, by the number of Serbs in the former Yugoslavia, Sarajevo was the third Serb city after Belgrade and Novi Sad, with Nis in fourth place. His assessment of the risks of travel is blunt:
“I don’t know why people feel the need to go somewhere there as tourists, where they are not safe. It is as if they have no awareness of what may be waiting for them.”
He also pointed to a recent children’s football tournament in Sarajevo, where, in his words, Serb children and their parents were harassed. The available materials offer no further evidence for that claim.
What advice does he give to those who still go to Sarajevo?
Rakovic recommends that travelers leave their car in East Sarajevo and enter the city by other transport. He also advises asking Serbs who live around Sarajevo, in the territory of Republika Srpska, about conditions before the trip, and whether anyone should travel to Sarajevo and other parts of the Federation of BiH at all.
The historian believes hatred of Serbs in Sarajevo will last for decades, even centuries. On that subject he said:
“We should not have any illusions. After all, look how much time has passed since the wars in Yugoslavia, and regardless of that, the hatred still exists, and in some places it is probably even greater. Somewhere that hatred declined a little after the war. But, as we can see, it is starting to grow again.”
The cases cited come from the Committee’s own records, and the available materials contain no reaction from the Sarajevo side and no official reading of the motive. Who slashed the tires in Breka is not known for now.
