Locals gathered in front of the recently closed ‘Bira’ migrant reception centre in the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac on Tuesday afternoon, saying they will not allow for migrants to be returned there.
On Monday, Bosnia’s Council of Ministers approved the decision on forming the temporary migrant camp ‘Lipa’, which will consist of adapted shipping containers able to house 1,500 individuals in the Bihac area.
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The BiH Security Ministry then asked the Interior Ministry of the Una-Sana Canton (USK), where Bihac is located, as well as the Service for Foreigner’s Affairs, for the Bira centre to be opened to temporarily accommodate the migrants currently staying at Lipa until the camp is made operational.
USK authorities closed the Bira centre in October to prevent the migrants from moving freely through urban areas.
The USK Task Force for the Coordination of Migrant Activities of the Una-Sana Canton (USK) concluded in a Tuesday session that the reopening of the Lipa and Bira migrant camps would further complicate the security situation in the area.
Bihac locals said they blocked three vehicles of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from entering the area of the closed Bira camp at about 4 pm, but there is no official information yet confirming that the vehicles contained any migrants.
No incidents were reported.
“We have been protesting at this place for more than 70 days, because we no longer want to go through the situation he had when two thousand people were accommodated in this centre. We are disappointed with the instructions of the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Selmo Cikotic, on the temporary reopening of Bira,” said one of the locals, Fadil Dizdarevic.
“We will not allow that and, believe me, there will be more and more of us here,” he said.
USK and Bihac city authorities strongly oppose the relocation of some 1,200 migrants from camp Lipa to the Bira centre.
