Blanar: Backi Petrovac Incident Has Become Opposition-Coalition Battleground

Bratislava, 12 August (TASR) - Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) said on Monday evening (11 August) that Slovak diplomacy and the Slovak Embassy in Belgrade won't comment on the incidents at the Slovak National Festivities in Serbia at the weekend, TASR has been told by the ministry's communications department. "Neither Slovak diplomacy nor the Representative Office of the Slovak Republic in Belgrade will comment on or interfere in the internal political events in Serbia, where politicisation was brought to a weekend cultural event - the Slovak National Festivities in the town of Backi Petrovac - via the publication of photographs from anti-government protests," said Slovakia's chief diplomat. Blanar claimed that the valuable culture of compatriots from Backi Petrovac has "found itself in the position of an opposition-coalition battleground", reacting to statements of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) parties, according to which the Slovak government failed to act in the case of the weekend incident. "Neither the ministry nor the Slovak Embassy in Belgrade have forgotten the event, they are closely monitoring the situation. The embassy is in constant contact with representatives of Slovak compatriot organisations in Serbia," emphasised Blanar. An attack on an exhibition of photographs documenting student protests in Serbia took place at the Slovak National Festivities in Backi Petrovac on Saturday (9 August). The exhibition was organised by the Slovak minority. The conflict, including skirmishes, took place between members of President Aleksandar Vucic's governing Serbian Progressive Party and the people who had prepared the exhibition of photographs of anti-government protests. During the clash, the photographs on display were damaged, and several people sustained minor injuries. am/df