SIPA monitors social networks and has information about citizen gatherings on February 7

Media in BiH today reported that the Council of Citizens of BiH called for citizens to commemorate last year's protests and gather again on February 7, reports the Patria News Agency.

Following up on this information, we contacted the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and Kristina Jozić, acting spokesperson for SIPA, stated that the State Investigation and Protection Agency is continuously collecting security-relevant information regarding potential citizen gatherings on the anniversary of mass gatherings in the wider area of BiH.

- In this regard, the Agency has unverified operational information that citizen gatherings are announced for February 7, 2015, in the Tuzla Canton area, as well as information that calls from groups or individuals for renewed gatherings in the wider area of BiH are frequent on social networks - says Jozić.

On the other hand, the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies told us that protests as an expression of democratic citizen expression and public gatherings of citizens are not within the direct jurisdiction of the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH.

- In the event of mass gatherings of citizens in the immediate vicinity of the facilities it protects, the Directorate will undertake all necessary measures to protect them. In planning and undertaking measures to protect the facilities protected by the Directorate, it will closely cooperate with police and other agencies in BiH - say from DKPT.

Otherwise, last year's protests, as an expression of dissatisfaction, escalated into violent behavior when several government buildings in several cities were set on fire, and the Presidency of BiH building also burned.