The anniversary of the NATO aggression was also marked in Vienna

Several hundred Serbs and Austrians marked the anniversary of the start of the NATO aggression against FR Yugoslavia, on March 24, 1999, tonight in the center of Vienna.

In all churches in Austria, a memorial service was held for the victims, and in Vienna, the Austrian-Swiss bishop Andrej decided that the memorial service would be held an hour earlier so that priests and believers could go to Stephanplatz, Vienna's central square, to gather in memory of all those innocent people who in 1999, lost their lives.

The commemoration began with a siren and a minute of silence, with the lighting of candles.

Every year, on March 24, the Serbs in Austria hold a memorial service for the victims of NATO aggression at Stephansplatz, with the aim of reaching as many people as possible with the truth about this crime that went unpunished.

By the way, during the NATO bombing, the Serbs in Vienna protested on the streets of the Austrian capital for 78 days, pointing out the injustice and crime that happened 24 years ago.

Even the rain in the capital of Austria did not deter the Serbs from paying their respects to the victims of the bombing, and from showing that they did not forget the crime.

Austrian publicist, Hannes Hofbauer, pointed out that the period of peace in Europe had ended on March 24, 1999, and that war had returned to the soil of our continent then, not last year.

He emphasized that then the great powers had started to lead their interventionist policy, and the war then had become part of their policy, while Serbia had been the first victim.

He underlined that war was not a solution, but a problem, and that therefore military intervention could not be justified under the pretense of solving the problem.

Today, he adds, the West is encouraging the war in Ukraine by supplying weapons, and sanctions, as well as by fighting against one culture, the Russian one, instead of seeking a solution through dialogue.

The vice president of the Serbian Cultural-Educational Society "Prosvjeta" in Austria, Srdjan Mijalkovic, said that memory was the most important thing for preserving identity.

"Remembrance of the victims is important, and our unity, which we showed here today, is also important," he added.

Austrian activist Gerhard Mack said that the aggression against the FRY had been a war crime, which had opened the door to imperialism.

The commemoration of the beginning of the bombing of FRY, in which 2,500 civilians were killed, including 89 children and 1,031 members of the army and police, was organized by the Austrian-Serbian Solidarity Movement.

A member of that movement, Wilhelm Langthaler, emphasized that a "Pandora's box" had been opened with the aggression against the FRY, which was confirmed even today when the war was being waged in Ukraine.

He said that NATO was trying to impose itself, and if it did not succeed and if someone resisted it, then it would use force, as in the case of Serbia.

"The Allied power has turned into an Axis power," Langthaler said.

A lawyer from Serbia, Srdjan Aleksic, who filed lawsuits against NATO because of depleted uranium bombs, said that dropping such bombs had to be punished.

"They knew about the prolonged effect and that it would affect civilians. Today in Serbia, because of those bombs, about 30,000 citizens fall ill a year. Whoever threw those bombs and committed ecocide must be held accountable and clean it all up," he said.

The President of the Austrian-Serbian Solidarity Movement, Lazar Bilanovic, pointed out the numerous civilian victims of NATO aggression and emphasized that NATO crimes should never be forgotten.

Songs about Kosovo were sung by members of the Serbian Cultural Center "Stevan Mokranjac", the Cultural and Sports Society "Bambi" and our oldest club in Austria "Jedinstvo".

For 24 years, the Austrian-Serbian Solidarity Movement has been raising its voice for the preservation of international law and respect for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244.

Next year, when the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the bombing will be marked, the movement is planning more activities and events to remind even more loudly of the suffering of Serbian civilians during the unjust and illegal aggression against a sovereign country.