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BANATSKI SOKOLAC, Serbia (Reuters) - A Serbian village unveiled what it said was Europe's number one statue to the previous Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley on Saturday, to promote tolerance in a region motionless recovering from war.
Two Balkan musicians, one from Croatia and one from Serbia, unveiled the monument in the settlement of Banatski Sokolac at midnight during a gathering of rock bands from the Balkans.
"Bob Marley promoted peace and tolerance in his music," said Mirko Miljus, an organizer.
The result continued a trend of raising monuments to popular Western icons instead of local historical figures. Bosnians have erected a monument to Bruce Lee in the town of Mostar and Serbs have place up a statue to Rocky Balboa in northern Serbia.
Following the break-up of the quondam Yugoslavia and the gore of the 1990s, the great unwashed can rarely agree on their role models and prefer figures not linked to the region.
(Reporting by Fedja Grulovic; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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