Bihac Mayor, Suhret Fazlic told N1 that a total of 50 city councillors and most heads of municipalities from the Krajina region in Northern Bosnia, will stage a peaceful protest, on Thursday, in front of the Government building of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Sarajevo, over the migrant crisis that has affected this part of the country, the hardest.

“Based on the Bihac City Council decision, councillors and most heads of municipalities and mayors from the Krajina region decided to come in front of the Council of Ministers building at 11 o’clock,” Fazlic told N1. “We want to warn people of the difficult situation Krajina is in, especially the city of Bihac because of the migrants.”

In this way, he said, they wish to call on the Council of Ministers and the Security Ministry of Bosnia and Herzegovina to start doing their job in accordance with the law.

“There’s 50 of us coming. We didn’t want to call on more citizens to join us. Our intention is to hold a peaceful and dignified protest,” Fazlic added.

He noted that they also submitted the request to Bosnia’s Security Minister and the Council of Ministers Chairman to receive them and discuss the issue, but that they have not received their answers yet.  

The latest data of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs shows that since the start of this year, 8,930 illegal migrants have arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina on their way to western Europe. A vast majority of them have expressed their intention to formally request asylum, but few have done so. They need a document confirming that they have applied for asylum to be able to travel around and to try to continue their journey to the European Union.