Today marks the fifth day of protests over unemployment and political struggles that have been oppressing Bosnians for years. There have been massive riots in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo where protesters set fire to several of the presidency buildings in the capital, including several other cities across the country; Tuzla, Zenica, and Mostar are amongst them. Thousands took to the streets in solidarity with the demonstrations.
The protests hotspot is in Tuzla in the north of the country, where peaceful demonstrations began on Tuesday, February 04th. Initially, former workers of previously state-owned companies that were sold off and had collapsed under private ownership mainly made up the protests. These factories had employed most of the local population. The protesters were accompanied by thousands of unemployed people and youth; among them was Aldin Širanović, the protests informal leader who was quickly imprisoned by the police. As this was one factor that led to the escalation of the protests, the police did release Aldin Širanović on Friday, February 7th.
Bosnian National Television BHT1, reported that protesters had smashed doors and windows, before storming state buildings. Despite the effort to disperse them with teargas and water cannons, the strong police contingent was not able to stop them. In Mostar all the local government facilities were attacked and formal documents were being destroyed. Due to protesters blocking the road, it was difficult for the fire-fighters to enter these facilities. Sarajevo was covered in smoke, when protesters pushed several police-vehicles into the river Miljacka.
Early on Friday, February 7th, local authorities in Tuzla had ordered schools to cancel classes. According to BBC, at least 6.000 people took to the streets in Tuzla, although some news agencies in Bosnia claimed that there might have been up to 10.000 protesters on Friday. The emergency service in Tuzla said it admitted 104 police officers who were seriously hurt and 30 civilians with lighter injuries. BHT1, also reported that several journalists were injured in the clashes and were even prevented from reporting at some points by protesters.
Also on Friday, BBC announced that police forces had fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in Sarajevo while this was not stated in all local media stations. Before this escalation some experts had analyzed the dynamics of the uprising and speculated that this might be the beginning of a Bosnian Spring, considering all the similarities with the early uprisings in the Arab world.
It has now been two decades since the siege of Sarajevo and the political challenges in the country seem to increase. The protesters demand the government to resign, as they are criticizing its failure to tackle the continuously increasing unemployment in the country among other political problems (e.g. a national crisis in 2013 where hundreds of newborn babies did not have any identity numbers). It is not difficult to relate to the feeling that not only the international community seems to have forgotten the people and their struggles, but also their own government. Is this what they have been fighting for during the war in Bosnia from 1992-1995?
With an unemployment rate between 40 to 60 per cent, Bosnia has the highest unemployment rate in the Balkans according to local media. At the same time Aljazeera claims that the unemployment rate has reached 27.5 per cent. However, it is clear that the economic situation is desperate.
Due to the protests in the autonomous (Bosniak-Croat) Federation, its Prime Minister, Nermin Niksic, held an emergency meeting with regional security ministers and prosecutors. Niksic pointed out that the authorities do distinguish between the workers who are left without basic rights such as health benefits and pensions and hooligans who used this situation to create chaos on the other side.
Zeljko Komsic, a Bosnian politician who currently serves as (Croat) Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated on Friday that the conflicts did not just started a few days days ago but have been accumulated over years and escalated as they became visible right now.
Personally, I agree with Komsic, stating that the massive demonstrations are a reflection of all the oppression that has been suppressed for years and indirectly accepted by the people in Bosnia. I think it is crucial that people in Bosnia are finally taking responsibility for their own situation by using their democratic rights to protest in order to make a change on the personal and collective level. However, I find it very destructive that the protesters reacted with massive violence indirectly giving the authorities a reason to apply more violence. Ultimately this could create a bigger gap and power imbalance between the population and the authorities. Clearly, it takes a lot of discipline to lead such uprising without applying violence. I personally do not believe that any solution can be found by destroying property, damaging vehicles, windows, and fighting the police.
However, I do acknowledge the fact that the violent reactions of the masses can be seen as an expression and reaction to the oppressive conditions that people have been living under since Bosnia had become an independent state in 1992. There have been enormous reactions on social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, where the majority of the people, both inside and outside of Bosnia, stated that they do support the protests but not the violent acts.
It is easy to label the protesters as hooligans. The current political situation in Bosnia is certainly the responsibility of both the authorities and the protesters. It is to simplistic to argue that hooligans are taking advantage of the situation to create chaos instead of taking responsibility for the current situation. In the end, I ask myself, what is the difference between the violent acts committed by the protesters and the silent violence committed by the government over the last years?
By the end of Friday, February 7th, the clashes seemed to be under control. It will be very interesting to follow the situation and see if the uprising has the potential to unite people. Will there be a Bosnian Spring after all?
The author is a Bosnian peace and conflict researcher who lives in Western Europe.
