The government advisory committee for national minorities and the Croatian People's Party (HNS) on Friday condemned the recent attacks on ethnic Serbs near Knin in which five people were injured, including a 9-year old child.

The committee’s president Aleksandar Tolnauer in a press release condemned the “hooligan, unacceptable and unallowable attack on ethnic Serbs that occurred on 21 August in Uzdolj and Djevrske (near Knin) in which five people were hospitalised including a nine-year old child.”

These hate attacks were not just incidents against individual ethnic Serbs but the government’s entire policy to build a system of protection for national minorities which ensures that national minorities can develop their cultural and national identity and at the same time, integrating them into Croatian society, the press release said.

The committee expressed its satisfaction with the quick and energetic condemnation by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic which testifies to the resolute political will to combat various forms of discrimination and growing atmosphere of intolerance, hate speech, violence and ethno-centrism.

HNS said in a press release that it condemns the attacks near Knin and an incident that occurred in Rijeka recently based on ethnic intolerance.

We appeal to the relevant institutions to act urgently and expect the sternest penalties for the perpetrators. It is unallowable and sad that in 2019, there are still people who see violence as an acceptable behaviour and it is just as scandalous that the motive for the attacks was ethnic hatred, HNS said.