Employees of the Goradze based Ginex chemical plant and many Gorazde residents organised a mass protest Friday on the plant premises after learning that the company management is about to be sacked.

Many of those gathered booed the supervisory board as they came in for a session, local media reported, but the board still voted for the dismissal of the company's management, which led to even greater dissatisfaction among many.

The Ginex workers’ union has previously stressed that they support the management, which has been operating positively and successfully for years. Support also came from colleagues from other cities, and numerous officials also attended the rally. Among them was the mayor Ernest Imamovic, who said: “We will not give Ginex, the people of Gorazde will decide on Gorazde!”

Edita Velic, a member of the Bosnia-Podrinje Canton’s Assembly, said that residents will block the Gorazde crossroads in support of the sacked management adding that she learned the Board swore that “they would not change their decision regarding the Ginex management at the price of their lives.”

She also called on the leadership of the cantonal Assembly and Government to immediately schedule extraordinary sessions.

Among those currently gathered in the plant area is Federation (FBiH) entity representative Damir Masic, who said that the situation has become tense.

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In the late evening hours, the Federation (FBiH) entity Government adopted the conclusion of the Supervisory Board to sack the Ginex management.

Ernest Imamovic, the Mayor of Gorazde told N1 that over a thousand citizens are on the streets and that their only demand is that the current administration of Ginex Gorazde remain in office despite the FBiH government's decision to dismiss them before the expiration of their mandates.

Imamovic called on the FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalic and the entire entity Government to come to Gorazde as soon as possible.

“The workers, all of them, the whole plant is outside. The workers want to spend the night here, they don’t want the FBiH Government to have that kind of attitude towards Ginex. They are asking them to come and it is time when you dismiss someone to look them in the eye and tell them your reasons [for the dismissal] with arguments,” said Imamovic.

He warned that several thousand workers and Gorazde residents who came to the streets plan to stay there for days or weeks, as long as it takes and that the town of Gorazde will remain blocked until their demands are met.