[1][2] The clash began after rebel Serbs seized the town's police station and municipal building and harassed Croatian government officials.

Despite an attempted intervention by the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA), the Croatian government reasserted its control over the town.

The Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence (Teritorijalna obrana - TO) weapons to minimize resistance.

[3] On 17 August, the tensions escalated into an open revolt of the Croatian Serbs,[4] centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around Knin,[5] parts of the Lika, Kordun, Banovina, and eastern Croatia.

The two men eventually became the political and military leaders of the Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK), a self-declared state incorporating the Serb-inhabited areas of Croatia.

[16] In response, President Franjo Tuđman ordered the Croatian Interior Ministry to restore the government's authority over the town.

[14] A company of the "Omega" special police unit,[17] dispatched from Bjelovar, approached via the village of Badljevina, where a number of Croatian civilians followed the force towards Pakrac.

Borisav Jović, the Serbian representative on the collective Presidency of Yugoslavia, supported a request by Yugoslav Defence Minister Veljko Kadijević to send the JNA to the scene.

[18] The next afternoon, an additional JNA unit led by Colonel Milan Čeleketić arrived in Pakrac, taking positions close to the Croatian special police.

[26] The JNA withdrew from Pakrac following a decision of the Yugoslav Presidency,[27] abandoning the northern approaches to the town on 12 March, and pulling out completely seven days later.

[14] The Serbian government used the Pakrac clash to strengthen nationalist propaganda claims that Croatia was committing genocide against its Serb population.

[31] The request, specifically demanding the granting of wartime powers to the JNA and the introduction of a state of emergency, was made through Kadijević at a Presidency session of 11–15 May.

[25] In Pakrac, approximately 500 Serb protesters gathered in front of the municipal council building to the demand the removal of the flag of Croatia.