All-day blockade, authorities silent on veterans' demands: Come to us for negotiations

FBiH, (Patria) - Due to the all-day blockade of the most important main roads and entrances to the cities of Tuzla, Zenica, Mostar, Sarajevo, a staff was formed at the level of the Federal Police Administration. Demobilized soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defense Council blocked the M-17 road, the Vogošća interchange, Šićki Brod in Tuzla, Ivan-Sedlo, and late tonight also the Jajce-Banja Luka road and the road towards Krajina, causing kilometer-long queues, with hundreds of citizens stranded on the roads. No representatives of the authorities addressed the veterans all day, and they say they will stay overnight under the open sky. The temperature has already dropped well below zero, and a cold and long night lies ahead for the veterans.

- The police are taking measures to prevent escalation, Mevludin Halilović, commissioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, told N1 tonight, adding that he is in contact with colleagues from other cantonal ministries of internal affairs.

- We have a plan of action, but since it concerns the entire Federation, our activities will be coordinated with the activities of other police agencies, cantonal ministries of internal affairs, and the Federal Police Administration - Halilović said.

The police are undertaking all activities to prevent escalation and disruption of public order and peace.

As one of the veterans at Ivan-Sedlo earlier told Patria, they "will not move even at the cost of a dead head." They say they warned the authorities that a blockade would occur if their demands were not met. The veterans are demanding a veteran's allowance, a veteran's register, and an end to the funding of veteran associations.

At almost all blocked locations, veterans have lit fires, and at Ivan-Sedlo, the Sarajevo-Konjic-Mostar road has been further blocked by felling logs.

Dozens of former veterans also gathered at the Vogošća interchange in Jošanica, where they lit a fire. They said they would not form a negotiating team and called on the Minister of Veterans of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Salko Bukvarević, to come to negotiations.

Given that tomorrow is a non-working day because it is Independence Day, larger crowds were also recorded today. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Employers' Association reacted during the day, calling on veterans to block the institutions that prevented them from exercising their rights, not the roads, because the economy and workers are also suffering.

The intensity of the blockades is not subsiding in Zenica on the M-17 road, at Ivan-Sedlo, at Šićki Brod in Tuzla, and citizens and other comrades are spontaneously joining.