Sarajevo Police Authorized to Remove Migrants from Streets and Restrict Movement

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Internal Affairs Police Administration has received authorization from the Sarajevo Canton Government to remove migrants from the territory of Sarajevo Canton and restrict their movement, in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, confirmed the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton for Patria.

When asked if this means they can physically remove migrants from the streets of Sarajevo, we received an affirmative answer.

"In this process, the assistance of the Service for Foreigners' Affairs is also needed," said the Public Relations Department.

In the Ušivak camp in the Hadžići area, there are 788 migrants, and in Blažuj in the Ilidža municipality area, there are 1,417 migrants who were allowed to leave and return to the camps freely. They spent most of their days on the streets of Sarajevo, thus endangering themselves and others during these times. The IOM confirmed to Patria that migrants are aware of the dangers of coronavirus, but the additional measures introduced today will also be a form of protection for the migrants themselves.

The Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fahrudin Radončić, warned today that migrants are the biggest hotspots for the spread of the virus.

"Many of them have solutions, they must be physically forced to stay there and their movement must be restricted. We will have to set up tent settlements with barbed wire, guarded by local police, so that they cannot move anywhere. I expect Republika Srpska to abandon its rigid stance that migrants cannot be in the territory of Republika Srpska, because the goal is to minimize the movement of migrants," Radončić said at today's press conference.