Pressing their demands for bigger benefits, former Bosnian Army and Croatian Defence Council troops blocked the main street in Sarajevo and scuffled with the police.
War veterans from the Bosnian Army and Croatian Defence Council protested on Wednesday and blocked the main street in Sarajevo, after a deadline they gave to lawmakers in Bosnia’s Federation entity expired without any results.
A few hundred veterans blocked the main street in Sarajevo after having gathered in front of the parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of Bosnia’s two entities.
Accompanied by strong police forces, media reported a few incidents and said that police used tear gas to disperse the veterans.
Earlier this year, the entity parliament was due to adopt a law that would meet the veterans’ demands, but the parliament has failed to adopt it so far.
The veterans are demanding payment of 326 Bosnian marks [about 167 euros] per month in benefits for unemployed veterans, and say every former soldier should also get two or three marks [one to 1.5 euros] for each month they served during wartime.
They also want the establishment of a single, unified registry of veterans in the Federation, defining who were members of the Bosnian Army and the Croatian Defence Council, to weed out people who have falsely declared themselves veterans.
The protesters’ third demand is an end to the financing of what they see as unnecessary veterans’ associations by the Federation and cantonal governments.
In February, veterans blocked roads in the towns of Tuzla, Zenica and Doboj, and the main road from Sarajevo to Konjic, with the same demands. Police dismantled their barricades two days later.
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninsight
