Army veterans from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity blocked the main roads in Sarajevo, in a protest they staged right before the FBiH Parliament session at which the Law on the Rights of Veterans was supposed to be discussed and adopted.
The FBiH’s House of Peoples scheduled a discussion of the Draft Law on the Rights of Veterans and Members of their Families which was adopted earlier at the FBiH House of Representatives along with a number amendments to the draft.
Prior to the scheduled beginning of the session, several hundred veterans of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croat Defence Council gathered in Sarajevo, in front of the Parliament building for, what they said would be, peaceful protests, pressuring the MPs to adopt the Draft Law and fulfil their demands.
The veterans’ demands are the publication of the single veterans’ registry, the abolition of the financing of veterans’ associations, and to have a veterans’ allowance.
“Today was the last chance for them to adopt our three demands,” said Esma Turljak, a veteran from Kladanj.
“We expect the House of Peoples to adopt our amendments, and for us to finally get a quality law,” said Amel Barinac, a veteran from Gorazde and added: “We have a plan ‘B.’ We won’t say anything about it in public, but if the Law is not adopted, It’s going to be bad news for everyone.”
The road near the Parliament building was also blocked where a large number of special police forces stood parallel to the veterans, preventing them to come near the entrance of the Parliament building.
At around 3 p.m. the veterans blocked the main roads in Sarajevo crippling the traffic in Bosnia’s capital. They say they were forced to block the roads because the MP's did not even begin to discuss the Draft Law hours after the session began.
The police are standing next to the veterans watching their every move.
“We apologise to the citizens, but we defended them against the occupier,” one veteran said.
Another veteran told N1’s Vlado Maric that “this was the last straw. These are the true veterans who were active army members during the entire war.”
Thousands of vehicles are unable to move from the centre of Sarajevo and according to Vlado Maric, there is great tension between both drivers and veterans.
Some two and a half hours later, the veterans went back in front of the Parliament building to continue their protest there, after coming to an agreement with the police. The traffic was normalised once again.
