Ratko Mladic arrest divides Serbian villagers
A teenage girl on the streets of Lazarevo, the small village where Ratko Mladic was arrested on Thursday morning, does not struggle to hide her allegiance.
Asked whether it is a good day for Serbia that the fugitive has finally been tracked down, she and her friend respond in unison. "Bad day, bad." She points to her chest, where she is wearing a post-it note, right under her heart-shaped pendant, bearing Mladic's name.
The village mayor, Radmilo Stanisic, also does not welcome the news. "If it is true it is very sad for our village," he says. "This is a peaceful place."
The men of the village put on a show of defiance in support of the general, chanting and climbing aboard a tractor trailer to shield the home where Mladic was arrested from prying eyes. "Go home," one shouts at onlookers. "There's nothing for you here. Why are you provoking us?"
Did the police protect Mladic here? The local police chief will not talk. "More important people than me have made a statement," he says. But one of his officers takes my camera from my hands and deletes the pictures of officers watching the street where Mladic lived. Another rescues me from villagers who try to take my camera from my hands and shove me away.
One surprise is that the officer who deletes my photos – protecting the image of the Serbian state — has a Croatian name. This region, like the rest of the Balkans, is a melting pot. Some signs are in Hungarian, Romanian and even Slovakian. Here is a history of migrations.
Many Lazarevo residents, Mladic's cousins apparently among them, are ethnic Serbs who moved from Bosnia after the second world war. That period of history is well known here. Less so, it seems, more recent history.
"Our children don't know about our Balkan wars," a woman who gives her name only as Marija tells me. She is 30 years old and has come from the larger city of Zrenjanin. "This is such a wonderful day. I am so happy. That man [Mladic] ruined my childhood, and many others. When I was a teenager it was one war after another. This will change things."
Others, away from the crowd, quietly agree.
"One man was responsible," says Srdjan. "Not the whole Serbian people. The truth will come out in the court."
But here in Lazarevo, that is a minority view.
On the sign welcoming visitors to the newly notorious village a sign has been hung. "Ratko – Hero" it simply says.
"Ratko is a Serbian hero. It's such a shame for our people that he's been arrested," says another resident.
As dusk falls, there's a new show of defiance on the streets as an orthodox priest leads a march through the village. But as the singing of national songs begins, others slip quietly away.
Paul, who says he fought in Serbia's wars with its neighbours, says Mladic was their leader.
"To us, Mladic is a hero, a military hero. He protected us from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, even Slovenia. He saved our families. War is not good but Mladic helped Serbia rise again. We were put down for too long. He was our kommandant, our military leader."