Croatia's ministry of foreign and European affairs has sent a protest note to Montenegro over billboards which have appeared within the campaign called "Being Proud of Our Serb Roots", launched by the IN4S web portal, the ministry stated on Tuesday.

Some of those controversial billboards along roads show famous Croatian writers and scientists, for example researchers and prominent figures from the Adriatic city of Dubrovnik such as Rudjer Boskovic and Baltazar Bogisic.

The ministry condemns these “unacceptable attempts to lay claim on the heritage of Croatia and the Croatian nation.”

The unacceptability and absurdity of this acts to falsely claim that those prominent men belong to the Serb people is even more evident in the context of the fact that Dubrovnik was shelled from 1 October 1991 to the end of May 1992 by the armed forces, deployed in Montenegro when many civilians were killed and also many were held in captivity in camps in Montenegro, the ministry says, recalling also the plunder of private and public properties by the occupying forces during the war.

The ministry says that such billboards posted by the IN4S web portal are deeply disturbing for Croatian nationals and for ethnic Croats in Montenegro.

They also adversely affect the bilateral relations, says the ministry expressing hope that Montenegro’s government will do its utmost to get those billboards removed and to make sure that such incidents will not happen again.