Marking the 23rd anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia, dozens of residents of the Croatian coastal city of Rijeka quietly walked on Tuesday through the center of their city and then threw 23 white roses into the sea.

The group wore T-shirts saying “Srebrenica – don’t forget,” and passed by an open-door photo exhibition displaying images of the Srebrenica massacre and its aftermath, made by photographer Ahmet Bajric.

The Vice President of Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s Serb-dominated region, Ramiz Salkic, traveled to Rijeka to take part in the march.

The exhibition and the march in the city centre show that Rijeka maintains the memory of the Srebrenica genocide in the best way, Salkic said, adding that it is especially important that Rijeka’s deputy mayor and citizens of other nationalities stand together with the city’s Bosniaks.

“That tells us about the friendly attitude toward the Bosniaks in this city, but also about the fact that this city is on the side of the truth and justice and clearly shows who the victim and who the perpetrator is,” he said.

On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern Bosnian enclave and rounded up the town’s Muslim Bosniaks, separated men from women and little children and systematically executed some 8,000 men and boys.

The bodies of the victims were dumped into numerous mass graves in the area.

Two international courts, The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the World Court later ruled that the massacre was an act of genocide.

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