Incident na Zagreb Prajdu intervju / Zagreb pride incident 2006 interview

Readers may remember that this years Zagreb / parade was marked by an incident where a person from Serbia was arrested for allegedly giving the three finger salute.

Citaoci se sigurno secaju da je ovogodisnju paradu u Zg-u obelezio incident kada je osoba iz Srbije uhapsena zbog tzv pokazivanja 3 prsta.

Sledi intervju na engleskom / srpskom s tom osobom.

The following is an interview with the person in question:

B.Anon. Can you explain in your own words what happened?

B. Well, it was 10 in the morning when we left Green Action (the place where we had slept) en route to Zrinjevac (where the parade was held). We were part of a group of about 20 people in a convoy and we were escorted by a police car and 4 policemen. I turned around to face my friend who was taking a photo and did the three finger salute with my left hand at the level of my waist, so I didn’t raise my hand or yell 'Serbia, Serbia' (laughs).
It wasn’t my intention to provoke anybody I only wanted to remind myself and my mate with me, (we both felt some pressure from the situation) that everything was ok and that we could feel relaxed as Serbs in Zagreb. However, a policeman who was around somewhere saw us and radioed his colleagues. Another friend told me later that he heard what the policeman said 'look at what that Cetnik bitch is doing, don’t let her in'. And that was what happened. At the park entrance they detained me, took my passport and didn’t tell me what was going on (even if both my friend and I insisted that they tell us what was happening). They only cruelly laughed and told me that I'd find out. They took me to the police station where they informed me that I had broken the law... After 3 hours I was taken to court where they offered me a Serbian interpreter (great way to take money from you isn’t it?) and a lawyer.
I then tried to defend myself in court but the policeman (called Mario....) testified (falsely) that I jumped in the air showing 3 fingers and God knows what else. He also said that some 'citizens' wanted to attack me so he had to protect me, unbelievable. Nobody in the group even saw any citizens since they had all crossed over to the other side of the street like we were infected or something... It was awful, a fabricated lie since I truly didn’t intend to provoke or insult anybody...

Yes, three fingers for them represent 'an insult to Croatia and the dignity of the Croatian people' and so on. One Croatian lesbian told me that I had even insulted her since her father was in the homeland war and those wounds do not heal so easily - almost as if they don’t want the wounds to heal. I simply wasn’t aware that how unstable they are as a people... and that’s the only crime I admit to (laughs)

B.A. Da li mozete da objasnite sta se zapravo dogodilo?

B. Pa,bilo je to u 10 ujutru kad smo krenuli iz "zelene akcije"(mesta gde smo bili smeshteni) ka Zrinjevcu(gde se odrzavala parada).ishli smo u koloni od jedno 20 ljudi a pratila su nas kola interventne policije i 4 policajca.ja sam se okrenula ka drugaru koji je fotografisao i pokazala 3 prsta levom rukom,negde u visini kuka,znachi nisam ih ni podigla uvis niti vikala "srbija,srbija"(smeh:})
nije mi bila namera nikog da provociram,samo sam htela da dokazem i sebi i ortaku pored mene kome je bila uzasna frka od svega,da je sve u redu,da mozemo da budemo slobodni i opusteni kao srbi u zagrebu....no medjutim,,,,policajac koji je bio negde iza,to je video i motorolom javio ostalima.posle mi je drugi jedan ortak rekao da je chuo kako ovaj govori"vidi ovu kurvu chetnichku,ne dajte joj da udje",i tako se i desilo,na ulazu u park su me odvojili sa strane,uzeli mi pasosh,nista mi nisu rekli(iako sam i ja i ortakinja koja je bila sa mnom insistirale da nam kazu sta se deshava)samo su se zlobno smeshili i govorili "vidice se".onda je doshla marica i ja sam transportovana u "5-u policijsku postaju" gde su mi rekli da sam ustvari prekshila zakon....posle tri sata su me odveli na sud gde sam odbila tumacha za srpski jezik(gotivan nachin da ti uzmu pare,zar ne?)i advokata,
te pokushala da se branim,ali dotichni pripadnik interventne policije(mario nesto) je svedochio(lazno) kako sam ja skakala uvis i sta ti ja znam,te da su neki gradjani hteli da nas napadnu,pa me je on jelte branio...svashta...niko u koloni nije vidio nikakvo gradjanstvo,jer su svi bezali od nas na drugu stranu ulice,kao da smo zarazeni...ma uzas...sve je to jedna velika isfabrikovana laz,jer ja stvarno nisam imala nameru nikog ni da vredjam ni da provociram.....

B.A. Did you know what you were accused of was a crime?

B. Oh no I didn’t have a clue, really... until they made that clear to me.

B.A. Da li ste znali da ono za sta ste optuzeni predstavlja krivicno delo?

B. ma ne,nisam imala pojma,zaista....dok mi to oni nisu jasno predochili,jel

B.A. How did the Croatian police treat you and how long were you at the police station?

B. Hm well they looked at me with suspicion and hatred but all in all they were ok, after 3 hours of waiting I received a 'coffee from a machine' and following that I was questioned (Kresmir...) who was ok even if he didn’t understand what gay pride was  They even transported me by car (thanks Kresmir) even if the judge seemed like a nationalist and it was a fear whether he would ban me from entering 'their beautiful' (reference to Croatia - taken from Croatian national anthem) but it didn’t turn out badly – I was sentenced to a conditional sentence of one year, in other words 2 weeks in jail if I show 3 fingers again.

B.A. Kako se hrvatska policija odnosila prema vama i koliko dugo ste bili na policiskoj stanici?

B. Hm,pa gledali su me sa podozrenjem i mrznjom,ali u sushtini su bili ok,posle tri sata sam dobila "kavu iz automata",a i dotichni koji me je ispitivao(Kreshimir neshto) je bio ok,mada mu nije bilo jasno sta je to gay pride:] ....chak su me na sud odvezli kolima a ne maricom(hvala kreshimire),mada je sudija bio jedan zadrti nacionalista i stvarno mi je bila frka oko toga dal ce da mi zabraniti ulaz u "lijepu njihovu",ispalo je manje vishe ok-dobila sam uslovno godinu dana,odnosno 14 dana zatvora ako opet pokazem 3 prsta....

B.A. Would you describe yourself as a nationalist?

B. No way, ok Im Serbian I admit but that’s no big deal.. although after this incident, well I don’t think I'll be returning to Zagreb.

B.A. Da li biste sebe opisali kao nacionalist?

B. ma ne,nikako,ok,srpkinja sam,priznajem:]
ali ne lozim se ja na to....mada,posle ovog incidenta,ne verujem da cu skoro opet ici u zagreb....

B.A. How have the gay and lesbian community reacted to the incident?

B. Interesting question, mostly with silence... some of the people who were at pride (who I knew before) were really kind towards me and kept saying that it wasn’t my fault and comforted me because it was pretty heavy after those five and a half hours. The others seemed to not care one way or the other as if it was none of their business. But I'd like to state that the gay community in Croatia were great, supportive (apart from one I mentioned earlier) and I would single out Gordan Bosanac, a member of their Pride monitoring team, for particular praise. He went with me to court and supported me as much as he could. Jelena Postic from the organisation reacted immediately even if there was not much she could do. They showed me solidarity and support in contrast to the Serbian organiser of our group (a guy from Sabac) who didn’t even ask how I was. But that’s not important really. Its important that people who know me realise that Im not some lesbo Cetnik (a comment on a Croatian internet forum) but a detached, free soul and above all a normal type of person.

B.A. Kako su pripadnici gej i lezbejske populacije reagovali na ovaj incident?

B. zanimljivo pitanje.uglavnom-cutanjem...neki od ljudi koji su bili na pride-u (a koje sam znala od ranije) su stvarno bili divni prema meni i ponavljali kako ja nisam kriva i teshili me,jer je meni bilo bash heavy posle tih 5 i po sati,dok su drugi/e ostali potpuno ravnodushni,kao da se to njih uopshte ne tiche....ipak naglasila bih da su pripadnici hrvatske gay populacije stvarno bili divni prema meni(sem te jedne domobranke) i posebno bih istakla Gordana Bosanca,koji je kao chlan njihovog tima za monitoring parade,bio sa mnom na sudu i podrzao me koliko je mogao,i Jelenu Postic,iz organizacije,koja je odmah reagovala,mada nazalost nishta nije mogla da uchini,oni su bar pokazali da im je stalo,za razliku od organizatora puta(neki lik iz shapca) koji me nije chak ni pitao kako sam....
mada to nije bitno,meni je najbitnije da ljudi koji me poznaju,znaju da nisam nikakva"lezba chetnik"(komentar na nekom hrvatskom forumu) vec jedna pomalo otkachena,slobodoumna i nadasve normalna osoba....

This interview (given in Serbian) has not been edited or altered and any mistakes in the translation are entirely due to the ineptitude of bganon.