Several hundred citizens arrived in the town of Lapisnica in Istocni Stari Grad for a rally in support of Republika Srpska (RS) entity President Milorad Dodik and RS Official Gazette acting director Milos Lukic, blocking the main road.
Large traffic jams were formed, considering that it is a fairly busy road. Among those present were Bosina’s Foreign Trade Minister Stasa Kosarac, the spokesperson of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) party Radovan Kovacevic as well as some mayors from the RS, N1 reporter said.
The rally called “The Border Exists” was held last week in Foca and Ribnik. Previous rallies were held in Istocno Sarajevo, Doboj, Ostra Luka and Vlasenica.
The title of the series of protests falsely implies that the Inter-Entity Boundary Line is actually a “border” – an easily disputed claim by simply reading the original of the BiH Constitution, which is part of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war in the country, which was originally written in English and then translated in Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian language. In the original, it is clearly stated that the line between the entities is only a boundary line.
Earlier, EUFOR, the European peace-keeping force in Bosnia, announced that it was monitoring the security situation in the country, and their vehicles were seen in certain locations.
All the previous rallies were peaceful and they were secured by the RS Interior Ministry.
The Office of the High Representative (OHR), the international community’s envoy in charge of overseeing the implementation of the civilian aspect of the Dayton Peace Agreement announced previously that “there are no internal borders in Bosnia and Herzegovina”:
“High Representative Christian Schmidt reminds that it is irresponsible to stage divisive political events at the Inter-Entity Boundary Line. The Inter-Entity Boundary Line is not a border between the RS and the FBiH, but purely administrative line,” the Office of the High Representative said in a statement posted on social platforms.
The protest is a response to the indictment against Dodik and acting director of RS Official Gazette Milos Lukic over their refusal to implement decisions of the High Representative in BiH on the RS entity territory.
