“Tadic Next to Djindjic”

Graffiti “Knife, Wire, Srebrenica” and “Tadic Next to Djindjic” and a drawing of Serbian president on the gallows appeared in Serbia.

Graffiti “Knife, Wire, Srebrenica”, written in red paint in large, Cyrillic letters, appeared on the wall of a house in the Serbian town of Kragujevac, alluding to the Serb massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in 1994, Belgrade’s Radio B92 reported today. Police are looking for the author. 

Similar graffiti also turned up in the towns of Cuprija and Surdulica. In Cuprija, the graffiti read “Tadic Next to Djindjic” (alluding that the incumbent Serbian President, Boris Tadic, should end up like premier Zoran Djindjic who was assassinated in Belgrade in 2003), and a drawing of a man on the gallows, along with the letters “Bor_s”. A two-metre tall drawing of a man on the gallows with the word “Tadic” written underneath appeared in Surdulica.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said he was not surprised by the mud-slinging campaign.

-- This is, unfortunately, a part of our culture of the 1990’s, we should be aware of this. I do not give much significance to this, seeing as we have lived with it for years – Tadic said.

Tadic’s Democratic Party considers such graffiti as serious, since similar messages had appeared before Djindjic’s assassination. The party believes the graffiti are the work of the Serb Radical Party (SRS), whose only obstacle to returning to authority is the Democratic Party.

The SRS, however, refuted any connection with the graffiti.

-- We were waiting for when they will have the cheek to blame the SRS for graffiti written by Democratic Party members and say they recognised the writing. Well, they did. It is the handwriting of the Democratic Party, just like before every elections – the SRS’s Aleksandar Vucic told B92.

The only party besides the Democratic Party that protested against the graffiti is the G17 Plus party, which believes that the offensive graffiti directed against the Serbian president and the Democratic Party are impermissible. The party urged authorities to find and punish the perpetrators as soon as possible.