Original article (in Serbian) was published on 03/12/2021
“CROATS WANT SERBIA TO BURN! They are leading a media campaign for Cumet’s and Zelenovic’s thugs”, several tabloids announced yesterday, including Alo. However, the brief text of this tabloid does not present any arguments for the claims that the Croatian media “call for a civil war”. They are using an article from the Croatian website 24 sata, which only wrote about the current protests of citizens in Serbia, with arguments from both sides.
In the short text of the tabloid Alo, containing only four sentences, there was no room for arguments about calling for a civil war, but there was room for hate speech.
Alo states that “Croats hoped that the violence of fake ecologists and Djilas people would lead to the shedding of Serbian blood” and that the Croatian media “are enjoying it and calling for a civil war in Serbia”.
As “proof” that Croats want “Serbia to be set on fire”, Alo published a screenshot of the title of the Croatian website 24 sata: “Alarming situation? Mass environmental protests are coming to Serbia, Vucic says that there will be no civil war”.
The Croatian website wrote about the protests of the citizens, who blocked the roads on November 27 in opposition to the Rio Tinto company opening a lithium mining mine. They also referred to the incident in Sabac, where an excavator, driven by an “SNS supporter”, hit the citizens.
24 sata also stated the position of President Vucic on the whole situation with Rio Tinto and the protests.
Among other things, these include that Rio Tinto “was brought to Serbia by the previous government”, that “Serbia will never be in any civil war”, and that Vucic “is not considering to listen to the street and serve the street”.
The website also wrote that the organizers announced peaceful rallies and blockades in at least 30 cities for the weekend.
Judging by the text, the website 24 sata wrote about the current events, without propagating the civil war and setting Serbia on fire.
However, that did not stop websites Objektiv and Informer from publishing almost identical short texts without any arguments, suggesting that “Croats want to set Serbia on fire”.