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Happy 30th #thedaythewarstarted anniversary! Revisiting the Maksimir riots from 13 May 1990 and the mythologised narratives surrounding them, I'll be expanding this thread throughout the day with journalistic takes, academic research, documentary footage, primary sources, etc.
The riots themselves have been well documented by now, so I won't go into too much detail. You can check out the work of Ivan Djordjevic, @LTregoures, Richard Mills or mine. I'll be posting links as the day goes along ... I anticipate a rather long-ish thread, just so you know.
Let's start with raw footage from the day with commentary by legendary sport journalist Boris Mutić asking in "what circle of hell have we arrived at" and almost prophetically proclaiming that "usually these things end up in national divisions".
Mutić: "Whether we are fans of Dinamo or Red Star, Croats or Serbs, maybe all of this is a Balkan expression of a magnetic anger of the footballing planet. These things usually end up in national divisions and colour [...] we are what we are and we are here where we are."
For the Zagreb-based "Sportske Novosti" the culprit was quickly and clearly identifiable. "The fans of Red Star consciously provoked the biggest incident", the biggest ex-Yugoslav sport daily titled on 14 May 1990.
If you ask me, the most impressive pictures of the day were arguably taken by Renato Brandjolica. You can find them all in this "Jutarnji list" gallery: https://www.jutarnji.hr/Fotogalerije/kako-su-bbb-i-i-boban-obranili-maksimir-13.-5.-1990./3113117/
Didn't really plan this thread, so it'll be a bit chaotic and unstructured... just like the response to the rioting by the Yugoslav security forces #dadjoke #badumtsss
In general the immidiate interpretations about who was responsible for the violence were diametrically opposed. According to the majority of Croatian accounts, the police acted inadequately, intervening ‘suspiciously’ late, focusing solely on the BBB and protecting the Delije.
The Serbian press held a counter-narrative, which saw the events as a meticulously planned incident orchestrated by Croatia’s new HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) government whose officials, most of all Franjo Tudjman, wanted to exploit the riots politically.
If interested in the 1990 debate you can have a look at my research at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2013.801217 (Croatian media focus) or at Srećko Mihailović's 1997 article ‘Rat je počeo na Maksimiru: govor mržnje u medijima: analiza pisanja "Politike" i "Borbe" 1987-1991' (Serbian media focus).
1990 wasn't much different: ‘We're the Četniks, we're the strongest, we're the strongest’ vs. ‘When you're happy hit a Serb to the ground, when you're happy slaughter him with a knife, when you're happy shout loudly Croatia, independent state’ https://twitter.com/RobertMackey/status/1260504535610667008?s=20
I won't talk too much about the Bad Blue Boys and the Delije here, but please do check out @dr_andyhodges book on Croatian ultras ( https://www.routledge.com/Fan-Activism-Protest-and-Politics-Ultras-in-Post-Socialist-Croatia/Hodges/p/book/9780367499204) and Richard Mills' article on 'Serbian Football and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia' ( https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523360902941829)
Here's where the tricky bit starts. There is an overwhelming interest in the riots - particularly during anniversaries & particularly by football fans/fanzines. The issue being that the understandable fascination rarely goes beyond the incident itself.
