(ANSA) - ZAGREB - In 2016 in Croatia were recorded 331 cases of assault, discrimination or incitement to violence against the Serbs, 57% more over the previous year. These data emerge from a report issued by the National Council of Serbs in Croatia (SNV), organization which is responsible for protecting the interests of the Serbian minority in Croatia.

According to figures released today, out of the 331 cases of different types of discrimination, 16 are assaults against Serbs motivated by ethnic hatred.

The rest is made up of verbal insults, press articles representing the Serb population in a negative way, or cases of historical pro-fascist revisionism with regard to the Croatian regime, that during the Second World War II was guilty of persecution and killings of tens of thousands of Serbs. ''This is not isolated to the above mentioned 331 cases, since the phenomenon has been growing in recent years and from the borderline society is moving toward its center'', said Milorad Pupovac, leader of the Serb community in Croatia and Member of the Zagreb Parliament. Something which is particularly worrisome: the growth of cases of ethnic hatred in the media, which is no longer relegated to the Internet portals attended by the far right, but increasingly present in public media, including public television. (ANSA).