Members of the Livno police apprehended several locals who had gathered Friday morning in the settlement of Poljane near Livno, opposing the concession that the Cantonal government awarded for the construction of a water well.

After the locals sent their requests with 250 signatures to the authorities, they repeated their request with the help of lawyers and local media reports, adding that no one addressed them and they instead of organizing a public hearing. The authorities sent a large number of police officers to deal with the locals.

Nemile scene u Livnu, demonstranti tvrde: Policija udarala žene i djecu!
Opširnije na https://t.co/qIkPg85OKz pic.twitter.com/xrt0u2wYmY

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Mirko Krivic, one of the locals, commented on the events in Livno for N1. He said that the police used force against the protesters and that one of the protesters was injured.

“The police forcibly removed us from the location. It’s important to note – they are trying to build a water well next to the location from which we draw drinking water. Our existence is threatened,” Krivic told N1.

“The agony has been going on for three years, and today the locals organised a peaceful gathering, demanding the right to drinking water. After two years of warnings, the Herzegovina Neretva Canton Government formed a working body that investigated the case and found that everything they were doing was illegal. The concession contract should have been terminated,” Mirko Krivic explained, adding that he was apprehended by the police for questioning.

Later during the protest, N1 learned that police officers attacked the protestors who say they were protesting peacefully.

A resident, Ivica Bresic, told N1, that the television's earlier interlocutor Mirko Krivic ended up in intensive care, and four more women suffered injuries that were diagnosed in the emergency room.

“Kivic is in intensive care and we are worried about him because we have no information. He was detained non-violently and got into a police vehicle. At that moment, they also threw several women, dragging them across the floor without trying to communicate with the representatives of the associations representing the locals. They didn’t want to show the document they were acting on. The women were singing and then the police rushed in and trampled everyone,” said Bresic.