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The play, based on his novel Les Particules Elementaires, was
to open in Dubrovnik in July but the Dubrovnik county prefect
had asked the intelligence service and police for a security
assessment.
A police statement said the service concluded the show would
represent a security risk.
"They did not use the word 'terrorism' but that's what it is,"
the Festival spokeswoman Karla Labas said on Thursday.
"The assessment is confidential and we'll never see it but I
think it was the combination of the author's latest novel, the
Charlie Hebdo attack and the proximity of Bosnia," Labas said.
Bosnian Muslims practice a moderate form of Islam but some have
become radicalized since the 1992-95 war and have been involved
in several armed incidents in the country in the last few years.
The government estimates up to 200 have gone to Syria and Iraq
to fight for the Islamic State group.
Houellebecq caused an outcry in France with his latest novel
Soumission (Submission), which tells an imaginary tale of a
France run by a Muslim president in 2022, whose victory throws
the country in turmoil.
The same day it hit the bookstores on Jan.7, Islamist militants
claiming to be avenging the Prophet killed 12 people when they
attacked the Paris offices of satirical weekly news magazine
Charlie Hebdo.
"This play has nothing to do with Islam, but obviously it didn't
matter. We are now scrambling to find a replacement play. It is
actually good the assessment was published now, rather than on
the opening day, which would have cause an even bigger scandal,"
Labas said.
(Reporting by Zoran Radosavljevic; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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