Beginning at 3 pm, women's protests began in several BiH cities on Friday under the motto: "Our pain is your shame!". The protests were organized against the increasingly present femicide and violence against women in the country.
In the country’s capital, women gathered at Alija Izetbegovic Square in Sarajevo, from where they began their protest walk around the city centre, forcing a temporary traffic blockade.
“We cannot tolerate violence of any kind. The final occasion was the event in Bihac. I want us to be more united. This is not just a story of men and women, but we must be loud against violence. We must have a legal framework, the penalties must be higher and we expect the support of all supervisory authorities”, said one of N1’s interlocutors and added:
“Violence does not wait for politicians to come to an agreement.”
In Bihac, women held a protest on this occasion called “Screaming Silence” where they too addressed the local press and held a walk through the city centre carrying banners.
Protestna, tiha šetnja ulicama Bihaća zbog svirepog ubistva Edine Odobasic. @N1infoSA pic.twitter.com/7Kv7B8uRbo
— Snezana Mitrovic (@Snejkicaa) October 14, 2022
Women in Gorazde also joined the protests at the central square from where they said “No more,” with a call to all fellow citizens to stand in solidarity with mothers, wives, daughters and all women.
Remembering the brutal murder of a woman, strangled by her husband earlier this week in Bihac, one of the Gorazde participants addressed the gathered citizens and told the story of a woman victim of violence and the hell she survived while being with her partner.
“I was a teenager when I met him. He was gallant, handsome, and well-spoken. He started controlling me at the beginning of our life together. He became the only person I was in contact with. When I would leave the house, he’d go with me. In fits of jealousy and anger, he inflicted physical injuries on me. I lost my confidence and will to live. I took pills twice to kill myself. Everyone told me to leave him and judged me for the relationship. I needed support. In one attack, I lost my teeth and broke my arm. He was arrested and stayed there for 24 hours, and I knew what was in store for me when I got home. I found shelter in a safe house,” said Jasminka.
Women also gathered in Banja Luka where Miloca Pralica from the “Ostra Nula” Association said that this protest is significant because it included women from all over Bosnia.
Duding the protest in Banja Luka, police started asking for ID’s of the residents who came in support of women’s demands in an attempt to find the organizer of the protest. Given that there was no organizer and that the protest was a spontaneous gathering of citizens all over Bosnia, not just Banja Luka, many approached the police and “self-registered” with the police as the organizers.
Policija u Banjaluci traži podatke o organizatoru skupa. S obzirom na to da ne postoji zvaničan organizator značajan broj okupljenih se "samoprijavio" na listu. @N1infoSA pic.twitter.com/E7TrkiAQ0K
— Mladen Vujinović (@M_Vujinovic) October 14, 2022
Bosnian women demand the following from BiH authorities:
– Introducing the legal definition of femicide,
– Introduction of femicide as a criminal offence in all laws and by-laws,
– Urgent harmonization of criminal laws with the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) and revision of penal practices,
– Ensuring prevention and protection against violence against women through competent institutions and multi-sector protocols,
– Consistent application of the law in cases where there is death as a result of domestic violence, that the perpetrator be judged according to the provisions of the law, which will establish a more severe punishment.
The protests were held in Bihac, Banja Luka, Gracanica, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Zenica and Stolac.
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