Priest harassed and attacked
An unknown man physically attacked a priest of the Diocese of Bačka of the Serbian Orthodox Church while he was performing regular parish duties on the street in Novi Sad. The perpetrator quickly walked away and escaped.
The motive for the attack is suggested to be related to recent media reports criticising the plans to construct a temple dedicated to the Holy Martyrs of Bačka, who suffered during the pogrom in Bačka from 1941 to 1944, particularly during the Novi Sad raid. This place of worship should accomodate the need of "tens of thousands of believers" in this area who do not have their own parish church.
"This need of the citizens of Liman was immediately exploited for political gain," explains the Diocese. "This has the potential to polarise our society and return it to the social environment of the post-war years when the Church, its clergy and faithful people were discriminated against and even physically harmed."
At the same time, the Diocese called on all political parties, the media and the non-governmental sector, to see their share of responsibility in this tragic historic event and to do everything together as a society to "heal and restore" the environment in which we live, the Eparchy stated.
The incident has been reported to the Novi Sad police, and an investigation is underway.
Sources: Danas, ground.news, euronews.serbia, T.anjug, N1
Image: Wiki commons
