A commemoration for the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre was interrupted on Saturday when the arrival of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was met with jeers and rocks thrown from the assembled crowd.
Vucic’s presence — along with dignitaries including former President Bill Clinton and European Union official Federica Mogherini — was meant to honor the estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were executed in the massacre, but instead served to highlight some of the tension still felt among Bosnian Muslims.
Just months before the end of the Bosnian War in 1995, Bosnian Serb forces attacked the town of Srebrenica, despite its designation as a “safe haven” by the United Nations. Eight thousand Muslims were rounded up and executed, their bodies scattered across the outskirts of Srebrenica.
The massacre’s accused leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, are still on trial at The Hague for their alleged war crimes.
Today, families of approximately 1,000 of those believed dead have still yet to find any remains of their loved ones.
On Saturday, 136 newly identified remains were ceremonially laid to rest, and their families were invited to formally mourn for the first time.
A woman cries near a truck carrying 136 coffins of newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in front of the presidential building in Sarajevo. Picture taken on July 9, 2015. Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters
A woman searches for her relative’s name on the coffins of newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, at the Memorial Center in Potocari near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters
Emina Osmanovic is seen in her home in a refugee camp near Banovici, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Osmanovic is still searching for her son. She lost 15 close family members in the massacre 20 years ago. “I don’t know what is worst. To find his bones and know for sure that he was killed. That he is gone. Or this waiting. Suspense.” Picture taken on July 1, 2015. Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Emina Osmanovic’s son Sakib is seen in a photo in refugee camp near Banovici, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Osmanovic is among several thousand women still searching for the remains of their closest relatives 20 years after the Srebrenica massacre. Picture taken on July 1, 2015. Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Sehida Abdurahmanovic poses for a picture in her home in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Abdurahmanovic is still searching for her brother. She lost 12 close family members in the massacre 20 years ago. “Nothing this country does will every surprise me again. There is less and less mass graves. Less and less identifications. I’m afraid that I will never find him. I can’t cope with that.” Picture taken on July 1, 2015. Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Sehida Abdurahmanovic’s brother Meho is seen in a photo in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Abdurahmanovic is among several thousand of women who still search for the remains of their closest relatives 20 years after the Srebrenica massacre. Picture taken on July 1, 2015. Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Nura Sulic poses for a picture in her home in Zivinice, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nura Sulic, is still searching for her son. She lost 11 close family members in the massacre 20 years ago. “His photograph is all I have left of him. I pray to dear Allah to find at least one, smallest bone. Anything. So that we would both finally be at peace.” Picture taken on July 1, 2015. Photo by Dado Ruvi/Reuters
Nura Sulic’s son Mirsad is seen in a picture in Zivinice, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sulic is among several thousand women still searching for the remains of their closest relatives 20 years after the Srebrenica massacre. Picture taken on July 1, 2015. Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters
A woman reacts as she touches a truck carrying 136 coffins of newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in the village of Visoko. Picture taken on July 9, 2015. Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters
The June 11, 1995 massacre in Srebrenica remains the worst mass killing that has taken place in Europe since World War II.
The 8,000 Bosnian Muslims killed that day were part of an estimated 100,000 people killed during the Bosnian War.
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