In centres of several dozens of Croat-populated cities and municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina candles were lit on Wednesday night on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar and in memory of all the fallen veterans in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Candles lit in the shape of the word Vukovar, a heart and the number 30 were placed in front of memorials to fallen defenders from Neum, through Mostar, to Vitez, Livno, and Orasje.

Many Croats joined the Evening of Remembrance, an event organised in Croatia to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the eastern Croatian city in the hands of Serb rebels and the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA).

In Siroki Brijeg, the commemoration of the Vukovar tragedy and the remembrance of all the victims of the Homeland War was organised by the local HDZ BiH youth branch.

“Let the flame of memory of the victims of Vukovar, Skabrnja, Stipica Livada, Grabovica, Uzdol, Krizancevo Selo, Vares and many other Croatian execution sites burn bright in our hearts,” the local HDZ branch said, citing the towns in Craotia and Bosnia and Herzegovina that have become bywords for the atrocities committed against local Croats.

Earlier in the day, about a hundred students, dressed in red, white and blue T-shirts, paid tribute to  Vukovar with a millennial photograph, in which they formed the word Vukovar with their bodies in front of a primary school in Široki Brijeg.

The anniversary of the Vukovar tragedy was traditionally marked today in Vukovarska Street in Mostar, where a large mural honouring the hero city on the river Danube has been painted recently. The faithful from Catholic churches in the city marched in procession to this street after the Mass to light candles and pray at the cross.

Numerous Croatian war veterans from Bosnia and Herzegovina set out for Vukovar to attend the Remembrance Procession.