A group of several hundred veterans of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croat Defence Council gathered in front of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity Parliament building demanding that the FBiH House of Representatives (HoR) discuss their demands.
Right before the FBiH HoR session in Sarajevo, a group of several hundred veterans gathered in front of the FBiH Parliament building requesting the publication of a single war veterans’ registry, an abolition of the financing of veterans’ associations, and that they start receiving a veterans’ allowance.
Strong police presence is also present in and around the Parliament building, who set up barricades to prevent veterans’ forceful entry into the building.
Ivan Krajinic, a former member of the Croat Defence Council, told N1 that veterans “were forced to come to these protests by the difficult living conditions they are in,” adding that they will all enter the Parliament building if their six elected representatives were not allowed to enter the Parliament building.
In a conversation with N1’s reporter Vladimir Maric, Krajinic said that “the veterans’ demands are clear” but they doubt that the HoR would adopt them.
He told N1 that “seven more buses are coming to Sarajevo. They could come today to with the Representatives a good day.”
At the same time, the spokesperson for the Canton of Sarajevo Interior Ministry Suvada Kuldija said the police did not receive any information about this public gathering.
“Accordingly, police officers will take all measures and actions in accordance with the Law, in the sense that there is no violation of public order and peace. So far everything is peaceful and there are no violations of public order and peace,” Kuldija said.
After a discussion by the FBiH HoR Board on whether to include the veterans’ demands into the session agenda, the Board voted in favour of including their demands.
This means that the discussion on the state of the veteran population in the FBiH would begin by the presentation of the information on activities of the FBiH Veterans’ Affairs Ministry aimed at improving the welfare position of the veteran population in this entity, and the veterans’ demands stated earlier today.
The Board agreed to form a working group made up of the competent Ministers, chairmen of parliamentary caucuses, Head of the Committee for Veterans’ and Disability Affairs, two representatives of the veterans’ associations attending the session, and two veterans’ representatives standing outside the Parliament building.
Based on the discussion and suggestions presented at the session, the working group will propose its conclusions which the FBiH HoR will then discuss.
