Aluminij workers threw objects at Čović's car, 'thieves, thieves' echoed through Mostar, injuries reported

MOSTAR, (Patria) - After a meeting of Aluminij workers' representatives in the HDZ building in Mostar, Dragan Čović left the building under escort in a car, and then an incident occurred in which several people were injured, while two were detained.

Bottles and other objects were thrown at the car in which the HDZ president Dragan Čović was located.

It was previously reported that the president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, arrived in front of the HDZ building in Mostar, where he was met by dissatisfied Aluminij workers, reports Dnevni list.

A journalist from that newspaper reports that 'thieves, thieves' and 'betrayal, betrayal' are echoing through Mostar. As Dragan Čović entered the HDZ building, shouts of 'Dragan the thief' and 'You won't get out, thief' were heard.

The portal Bljesak reports that the directors of Aluminij were also met with whistles and shouts of 'Betrayal' after they arrived at the headquarters following a meeting with the leader of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović.

'Don't cry, be with your people,' the workers gathered in front of the HDZ headquarters told the management director Dražen Pandža.

Mostar's Aluminij was shut down on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, after being disconnected from the power grid. In the past few years, Aluminij has been operating at a loss, and the company's total debt is almost 400 million marks, of which more than half is debt for consumed electricity.

On Tuesday, Aluminij workers blocked the main road M-17 in Salakovac, north of Mostar, for almost five hours, and slightly earlier they blocked the southern approach to the city in protest against the collapse of the company.

Aluminij employed around 900 workers.

Slightly earlier, the Union accused the Management of poor management of the company, as well as high salaries of the Management members, even though Aluminij had been performing poorly for a long time.
The FBiH Government has a 44 percent stake in that company, the Croatian Government owns 12 percent, while the rest are small shareholders.