Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic on Sunday commented on recent incidents, saying that there were indications that they were motivated by ethnic hatred and stressing that one should not get used to such incidents but recognise, prevent and prosecute them.

“It is important to speak and write about the topic (of crimes motivated by ethnic hatred) because we must not tolerate or get used to hate crimes as something inevitable and common. It is important that we do not downplay violence and hate as part of a subculture, for example football fans or any other group, but work on recognising, preventing, prosecuting and punishing them,” Milosevic said in a Facebook post.

He was commenting on a recent attack by unidentified perpetrators on two nationals of Serbia in Split, which reminded him of an attack of a couple of years ago on Serbian water polo players in Split.

“That such things are happening and that they are happening now, at the start of the tourist season, when every guest is precious, is horrible and shameful. It is even more worrying that this happens constantly in Vukovar, where in the central city square a group of several men attacked a group of minors, calling them Chetnik bandits. I stress that the victims were minors,” Milosevic said.

He strongly condemned both incidents, saying that he expected police to identify the attackers from Split and the prosecutorial authorities to prosecute the attackers from Vukovar, who, he said, already have a criminal record.

The deputy PM thanked the mayor of Split for publicly condemning the incident, noting that Split did not deserve to be considered a problem city because of thugs. “Vukovar deserves even less not to be a safe place for all young people, Serbs and Croats alike,” he said.

Milosevic considers it important for politicians to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric and to help build an atmosphere of dialogue and tolerance, as well as condemn any incident targeting others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, language, background, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic.