Public anger grows after new GRAS failures: Protests begin at 12 PM

(Patria) - A new protest rally will be held starting at 12 PM today, following the tragic traffic accident in which student Erdoan Morankić (23) from Brčko died, and 17-year-old Ella Jovanović was seriously injured. The gathering will again be at the Zemaljski Museum of BiH, at the spot where the tram derailed.

Protests have been held from February 13th until Wednesday, February 18th, when young people read out new demands to the Government of Sarajevo Canton, which has been in resignation since February 15th because the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton, Nihad Uk, resigned. A session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, where the dismissal of the Government is expected to be discussed, is anticipated in the first ten days of March.

Those gathered at the protests are mostly students, pupils, but also citizens who are joining them.

Some well-known public figures will also attend today's protests, wanting to support the youth in their fight for justice.

Their demands include an effective investigation into the tram accident, safe public transport, inspection of all old trams before putting them into service, appointment of capable individuals and filling of management structures in the Student Center, improvement of conditions in student dormitories...

Further outrage was caused by the information that the camera on the tram involved in the tragic accident last Thursday had not been working since November 29th, 2025. The company that installed the video surveillance claims it was not responsible for its maintenance, but that someone else was. The moment of the accident was captured by surrounding cameras, which were seized from various objects, while the public was able to see footage of the accident accidentally recorded from a car stopped at a traffic light near the Historical Museum.

The Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, which is conducting an extensive investigation, announced that Chief Prosecutor Meliha Dugalija will hold a press conference on Wednesday, February 25th.

By order of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office and the Municipal Court, documentation from GRAS related to the use of tram number 516, complete technical documentation of all Czech trams, as well as certain personnel files of employees, has been seized. Documentation has also been seized from the Ministry of Transport of Sarajevo Canton, headed by Adnan Šteta, as well as from the company Vikler-Promet, which services brakes for GRAS.

Numerous trade unions have called on their members to join the youth protests in Sarajevo.

For now, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office has only arrested the tram driver, Adnan Kasapović, for whom the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo did not order detention, as it did not accept the Prosecutor's Office's argument that the act was committed intentionally, but possibly negligently.

Whether more people will be arrested in the coming days, especially after the discovery of numerous failures in GRAS's operations, will be known very soon. Although Senad Mujagić, the director of GRAS, has resigned, he has not yet been officially dismissed. The latest information that the tram driver involved in the traffic accident on Mula Mustafe Bašeskije was under the influence of illicit substances and without a valid license to operate a rail vehicle, has raised the question of responsibility within GRAS. Although the company tried to shift responsibility to the driver himself, the right address are the officials at GRAS who are carelessly putting the lives of the citizens of Sarajevo Canton who use public transport into the hands of people who do not have licenses to operate trams.