PETKOVIĆ: ATTACK ON PRAYER SITE SHOWS SERBS ARE NOT WELCOME BACK

PETROVO, JULY 18 (SRNA) – Petrovo Mayor Ozren Petković said he expects the competent authorities to identify those responsible for firing at the solar lighting installed at a prayer site in the Serb returnee village of Gornja Brijesnica, near Lukavac.

"The message is clear and, unfortunately, not the first one-that Serbs are not welcome in their birthplace," Petković told SRNA. He stressed that this was not the first such message directed at Serbs seeking to rebuild their destroyed homes on their own in this part of the Federation of BiH. The Serb Homeland Association of Residents of Gornja Brijesnica told SRNA that the shooting was one in a series of negative messages aimed at Serbs, but stressed that, despite obstacles to sustainable return, former residents would not give up on restoring their ancestral properties. Association member Lazo Tripunović said they had been forced to install solar lighting at the prayer site because, even after more than three decades, the Federation authorities had still not provided electricity to this Serb area. The prayer site in the Serb returnee village of Gornja Brijesnica is a centuries-old gathering place and a symbol of return and renewal. After years of neglect, local residents restored the site and erected and consecrated a cross there. The site holds significant spiritual importance for the displaced Serb population from the Ozren region.