Muslim extremists break up concert

Ten young men donning long beards, short pants and white hats broke up a concert of the Balkanika orchestra.

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Muslim extremists break up concert

Ten young men donning long beards, short pants and white hats broke up a concert of the Balkanika orchestra.

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The hooligans were dressed like members of the vehabit movement. They climbed up onto the stage and threw around the instruments that were set up for the musicians to play. One of the young men toko the microphone and told those attending the concert: “Brothers, go home, they are working against Islam here. This is Satan’s work.”

He then threw the microphone, which was damaged, as were the speakers, mixing board and some of the lighting.

Four police officers were present at the concert in Novi Pazar and used force to get the youths off of the stage and stop them from coming back. The concert was organised by the Novi Pazar municipality and the Serbia Culture and Sport Ministry.

About a half hour later, a group of about 50 Novi Pazar football supporters, upset over the team’s loss to Mladosti from Apatin, started throwing stones at the stage where the concert was supposed to be held. Earlier, the game was stopped for an hour after the Novi Pazar fans hit referee Nikola Maljković in the head with a rock.

The police have yet to comment on the two incidents, though further public concerts in the region will probably all be cancelled.

The vehabit is a radical Islamic group founded in Saudi Arabia. It is hard to give an estimate on how many supporters the group has in the Sandžak area, but what is sure is that the numbers have increased greatly in recent years.

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