In the United Kingdom, a White Armband Day celebration was held in the city of Coventry. The host of this event was the Bosnian-Herzegovinian association in the city of the same name, and the entire organization was coordinated by Ms. Azra Medić, secretary of the association, and Denis Hatić, vice president.
White Armband Day is a day of remembrance for the inhumane scenes that occurred on May 31, 1992 in the city of Prijedor and its surroundings. Namely, on May 31, 1992, the Bosnian Serb authorities in Prijedor issued an order over the local radio ordering the non-Serb population to mark their houses with white flags or sheets and to wear white armbands when leaving their homes.
The message broadcast by Radio Prijedor read: “Citizens of Serbian nationality, join your army and police in the pursuit of extremists. Other citizens, of Muslim and Croatian nationality, must hang white flags on their houses and apartments and put white armbands on their arms. Otherwise, they will suffer serious consequences.”
This was also the beginning of the systematic cleansing of Prijedor from its non-Serb population.
The program hosts were Hava Forić and Benjamin Mulalić, whose parents are from Prijedor and Kozarac, respectively. At the very beginning, the president of the association and vice president of SSD in BiH, Mr. Remzudin Alihodžić, addressed the audience.
Pupils of the Bosnia-Herzegovina supplementary school in Coventry Through various recitations, they pointed out the similarities between the Holocaust and the ethnic cleansing of the non-Serb population in Prijedor. In an emotional way, they reminded us that in 102 children were killed in Prijedor. Unfortunately, even after more than three decades, local authorities have not allowed a monument to be built in memory of the youngest victims.
On this occasion, we must mention and thank Dr. Anes Cerić (manager) and Almin Kazić (secretary) from Bosnia UK Network for their immense support to our association.
We would also like to thank Lynnette Kelly, who has supported the Bosnian-Herzegovinian community in Coventry for three decades, West Midlands Police representatives Adeeb Redman and Rani Ghundu, and Sue Stretton and Emma from the Healing Hands Network.
“Dear friends and members of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian association, I would like to thank you for today’s program on the occasion of the celebration of the ”White Armband Day”. I thank you for your support and may the victims of ethnic cleansing in Prijedor and all other cities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina never be forgotten. This topic is very painful for all of us. That’s why we need to be united and united so that the committed crime is never forgotten or repeated. I hope that this first official celebration of the “White Ribbons” in Coventry will become a tradition, all with the aim of not forgetting “innocent lives lost” said Denis Hatić, one of the coordinators of this event.
Azra Medić also said: “I would like to thank our association for the trust and support shown.” Denis and I are organizing the celebration of White Armband Day and with that act we honor the victims. For me, it is a huge honor because I come from that area and unfortunately I lost many close family members in the aggression against my homeland. It is my wish that this event becomes a tradition.”
