Hundreds of citizens gather in peaceful protest in Banja Luka

The citizens also demand from the city authorities to allow them to hold their gathering in the central square, while their third demand is that the Mayor of Banja Luka addresses them.

The peaceful protest comes several days after a Sweden's citizen was arrested for refusing to show his identity documents to Banja Luka police before he is told why he needs to show them. Six police officers threw Bruno Batinic to the ground and took him to the police precinct where he stayed for two hours.

Upon release, Batinic asked for medical help at Banja Luka Clinical Centre and his wife said they would file charges against the police after their return to Sweden.

Jelena Trivic, an opposition representative in the entity parliament of Republika Srpska, Bosnia's semi-autonomous region whose institutions are seated in Banja Luka, said the citizens are free to gather in a peaceful way and express their discontentment over the work of authorities.

Her colleague, Drasko Stanivukovic, also an opposition MP, said the gathering is not organised for citizens to give support to the opposition but to fight for their own rights.

The protest was organised by Trivic and Stanivukovic, members of the opposition PDP party, while their colleagues representing the opposition SDS party Miladin Stanic and Nebojsa Vukanovic expressed support to the gathering,

“Banja Luka is already set free,” Stanivukovic told the crowd in the central park 'Mladen Stojanovic'.