February 5, 1994: The Markale Massacre

An anniversary memorial

February 5, 1994: The Markale Massacre, the "Kristallnacht" of the Bosnian Civil War, occurs. The world learned about it the next day, and realized that something had to be done. But it would still be a while before anything was.

The attack was carried out by the Army of Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb Army), the self-proclaimed Serb secessionist republic, a territory within the newly independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had broken away from Yugoslavia on March 3, 1992. The war began a month later, on April 6.

A 4.7-inch mortar was launched into the Markale (marketplace) located in the historic core of Sarajevo, the new nation's capital. A total of 68 people were killed, and 144 more were wounded.

Serb forces, which had already detained Bosnians, due to their Muslim faith, in concentration camps in an "ethnic cleansing" measure, lied, claiming that the Bosnian army had shelled its people to provoke intervention from Western countries on their side.

In his last book, Beyond Peace, former President Richard Nixon cited this attack as a reminder that America still had to stand up to tyranny. He died 11 weeks later, before the book could be published.

The world seemed to agree that something needed to be done, to stop the worst ethnic violence in Europe since World War II, 49 years earlier. It would take another year and a half before something was. "Never again"? It was happening again. There would be a 2nd Markale Massacre on August 28, 1995, killing 43 people. That finally got NATO to act. Three months later, the Serbs were scared into making peace.

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February 5, 1994 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Detroit Pistons, 107-100 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Nets got 31 points from Derrick Coleman, and 29 from Kenny Anderson. Joe Dumars scored 42 in defeat, to lead all scorers on the day.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat, 96-94 at the Miami Arena.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 109-93 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 111-102 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 115-94 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 128-114 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings, 122-110 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

There were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Quebec Nordiques, 3-2 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-3 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-0 at the Boston Garden.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-3 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Al MacInnis scored the winning goal, with 38 seconds left in overtime.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Suffolk, and beat Ipswich Town, 5-1 at Portman Road. Ian Wright scored a hat trick.