Residents of the town of Prijedor in Bosnia-Herzegovina have commemorated the 30th anniversary of the day that non-Serbs in the town were ordered to wear white ribbons and display white sheets on their houses.
The order was issued in 1992 by Bosnian Serbs who occupied Prijedor at the time and marked the beginning of a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing against the non-Serbian population in Serb-controlled areas of Bosnia.
White Ribbon Day has been commemorated on May 31 in Prijedor for the last 10 years to remember the 3,176 non-Serbs, including 102 children, who were killed there or in areas around the town in northwestern Bosnia.
Victims' relatives and activists marked the day by wearing white ribbons and gathering to lay red roses on the central square. The names of all 102 children were read aloud, while participants displayed white placards with their names and ages.
In other parts of the country, Bosniaks organized commemorative events and wore white ribbons on their arms in solidarity with Prijedor.
For the first time this year, the police banned a march through the town. Bosnian Serb authorities also continue to deny requests for a memorial that would commemorate children who died.
After the war ended in 1995, several senior Bosnian Serb leaders, including 15 from the Prijedor area, were sentenced by international or Bosnian courts for war crimes.