The Union of Serbs from the Region, led by Miodrag Linta, has called on the Serbian government to designate May 2 as a Day of Remembrance for Serbs killed and displaced from Croatian cities. The date marks the 34th anniversary of what the organization terms “Zadar’s Crystal Night,” referencing the first organized mass violence against Serbs in Croatia during the early 1990s.

Linta characterized the 1991 events as the prelude to systematic ethnic cleansing, alleging that Croatian authorities under Franjo Tuđman’s regime targeted Serbs in multiple cities unaffected by direct warfare. According to his account, on May 2-3, 1991, over 2,000 Croatian nationalists launched coordinated attacks against Serbs and their property in Zadar, drawing parallels to Nazi Germany’s 1938 Kristallnacht pogroms.

The organization claims the violence resulted in at least ten Serbian deaths and the destruction of approximately 200 residential and commercial properties owned by Serbs. Witness accounts describe the use of explosives from police stocks alongside blunt weapons during the two-day rampage. Subsequent weeks allegedly saw continued arrests, torture, and killings at detention sites including a brickworks facility near Nin.

Linta presented documentation indicating that between 1991-1993, at least 34 Serbs died in Zadar (including 15 civilians), with over 10,000 forcibly displaced. Municipal records reportedly confirm the deliberate demolition of 470 Serbian-owned buildings in Zadar proper during the war years. The activist accused Croatian courts of failing to prosecute these crimes while alleging Serbian war crimes prosecutors have similarly neglected investigations.