RS MoI on the incident: The driver endangered a police officer, and individuals insulted us

The police of Republika Srpska are working to clarify the incident that occurred yesterday before the funeral in Prijedor, confirmed to the BiH news agency Patria (NAP) from the Public Security Center Prijedor. According to their claims, an incident occurred yesterday, which the competent prosecutor has been informed about, in which allegedly "the driver endangered the personal safety of a police officer".

- Yesterday, 07/20/2014, in the village of Kozarac, near Prijedor, a Commemorative gathering and religious ceremony was held for the exhumed persons from the mass grave in Tomašica. Police officers of the Public Security Center Prijedor were carrying out both physical security of the gathering and traffic regulation, in order to ensure the smooth flow of traffic, during and after the gathering – say the police from Prijedor.

While performing their duties, as they say, a police officer of this Center was "regulating traffic by showing traffic signs prescribed by law".

- At one point, a driver, currently unidentified, acted contrary to the signs shown by the police officer, thus endangering the personal safety of the police officer, as well as the safety of other road users. Upon the police officer's request for the individual to show his personal documents, in order to perform the official act of identification and determine the person's identity, he ignored the legally issued order and left the scene – say the police of RS.

The video published online shows a commotion among a large number of those who were going to the funeral in Prijedor, and then dissatisfaction and shouts towards the RS police officer. Some individuals used curses, while others chanted "Allahu Akbar". The RS Ministry of Internal Affairs saw the situation as follows:

- At that moment, a small group of those present, clearly under the influence of strong emotions, expressed their views towards the engaged police officers, and towards the police of Republika Srpska in general, in an extremely incorrect, intolerant, and offensive manner. Despite the obvious provocations, the police officers showed a high degree of professionalism and tolerance, all in order to ensure the smooth running of the mentioned gathering."

According to their statements, information is currently being gathered to clarify the mentioned event, and the competent prosecutor will be informed of all collected operational information.

- At the same time, this event is also the subject of proceedings by the internal control inspectors of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska in order to determine whether there were any omissions in the performance of official duties by the police officer – say the police from Prijedor.