Racist graffiti in Serbian towns

07 November 2001

Racist anti-Romani graffiti appeared in several Serbian towns. In Pancevo, a town near Belgrade in the north of Serbia, racist graffiti appeared on the walls of the town's buildings on the weekend of July 20-22, 2001, according to the Belgrade daily Blic of July 24, 2001. The messages contained insulting statements against Roma and Muslims. Earlier, on July 6, 2001, painted swastikas and graffiti that read "Gypsies stink" and "Death to the Gypsies" were reported in the south Serbian town of Surdulica, according to the Belgrade-based non-governmental organisation Humanitarian Law Center. The town's authorities ordered an immediate re-painting of all the walls where graffiti was found; nevertheless, the graffiti still created concern in Surdulica, where about one-third of inhabitants are of Romani origin.

(ANEM, Blic, Humanitarian Law Center)