Thousands join march to commemorate Srebrenica genocide anniversary

A crowd of thousands began marching towards Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia on Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the 1995 genocide in the ill-fated town.

The annual march takes in a 100-kilometre (62-mile) route to Srebrenica from the village of Nezuk, where the first survivors arrived days after the massacre.

Bosnian Serb forces captured Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, and killed 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

Fatima Ibrahimbegovic Alic who joined the march told AFP her father, Ramiz, was killed trying to escape.

"I don't feel well, but I go for him, for all of them, to walk this path where they suffered," she said.

"We need to keep doing this so we never forget."

The atrocity was deemed genocide by two international courts.

The marchers, carrying Bosnian, Palestinian and Turkish flags, will stop at the sites of dozens of mass graves where the remains of the victims were found.

In late May, the United Nations General Assembly established an annual day of remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

The move drew fierce opposition from the Serbian government and Bosnian Serb leaders, who still play down the atrocity and refuse to accept it was a genocide.

The marchers will reach the memorial centre in Potocari, where nearly 7,000 massacre victims were buried, on Wednesday.

They will attend a ceremony to mark the atrocity's 29th anniversary the next day.