News

The protests and riots in Bosnia during the last week brought the attention of the civil society all over the world.

Below we publish a letter from Miralem Tursinović, Director of Youth Resource Center (ORC) - Tuzla who is one of the long term partners of Center AMALIPE

A letter to my friends abroad....

Dear friends (all of you who supported us, who were worried about our safety, who called us, wrote us a letters, asking are we OK and what a hell is going on...), hereby mine (Miralem) and our (hCa / ORC Tuzla) statement / chronicle /chronology about the Re-evolution happened in Tuzla, but also many other cities in B&H.

But before of that I want to state that ORC Tuzla officialy was not one of the organizers of the protests and riots. Even all of our Youth group members (20 of them) were asking us to officialy became one of the organizers, I couldn’t do that because of their safety (protests became a violent, and most of our youngsters are underage). But we, ORC employees were present all of those days and nights at the protests, riots, etc... We were standing in front with the transparents, we were running from the special police, tear gas, nightsticks, rubber bullets...

Wednesday, february 5th.

Protests started in Wednesday were organized by unemployed workers from 5 factories in Tuzla who were just asked for social justice, because they were many year without job, salaries, or health insurance. They just asked that prime minister Sead Čaušević receive them to talk about their situation. They do that already for a two years period, every Wednesday, peacefully standing in fron of Tuzla Canton government, without any responce, and with total ignorance of all government officials who, every morning passed them, going to their workplace in Tuzla Canton. But, this Wednesday, they were joined by unformal group of citizens gathered at the facebook group, who just wanted to give them support. In total were around 1.500 people.

They were standing in front of Tuzla Canton building, and no-one wanted to talk with them. Prime minister Čaušević (SDP – social democrat party who is on power in Tuzla Canton since 2010) refused to speak with the representatives of those unformal groups (mainly unemployed people, youngsters). He stated that he will only talk with the representatives of the syndicates, but all of those workers were mainly from the factories already distroyed, robbed, sold to some political profiters, or international hyenas for peanuts. And they have no a representative of syndicate.

The main problem started when special police forces (we called them in sleng “turtles”, because of armor they are wearing) attacked a unformal groups of protesters who were not violent at the beggining. They used a tear gas, nightsticks, rubber bullets against mainly women, juveniles, penzioners, and it created a chaos. They arrested around 30 people. Problem is that all of those people are not just arrested, but heavily beaten, without any reason.  Police running into the faculties and high schools, beating and arresting people without a reason. Police arrested a leaders of the protests, heavily beat them, took them to the prison, did not allowed a medical help to them, and hold them without charge.

Thursday, february 6th.

Protests continues in 12:00. In Tuzla came also a special police forces from Sarajevo, Zenica and Orašje, but also a good thing is that people from other cities (including RS) Sarajevo, Zenica, Mostar, Banja Luka, Prijedor, Bihac, Bijeljina.... suported us. Thursday afternoon 20 buses from Zenica, Lukavac and Gracanica were stopped at the city entrance, and they were not allowed to join us. That menas that Bosnia and Herzegovina is finally united, unfortunatelly not because of good reasons.

They (police) constantly issuing a false reports about, f.e. 120 injured policers, about the looting a shops around by protesters, etc... But, media came to our side and constantly issuing a real infomation. Media houses came to Tuzla: CNN, Al jazerra, Croatian television, Reuters, and lot of the regional media. A protests and riot are not definitelly orcestrated and politicized. Just ordinary citizens, unemployed and disempowered workers, youngsters without the job, hungry pensioners came out at the street to ask for the social justice.

Thursday night they tried to beat one of my female colleagues from ORC and my wife - Mirjana, because she was stand to defend a two girls (16-18 years) attacked by 5 special policemans. I was also registered because, as they says last night, I insulted a policemans..... ;-). Expected last night and this morning to call me or come for me to take me to police at the "informative meeting".... Still waiting for them because last night there were angry. I dont want to think about the conspiracy theory, but maybe a reason can be an open letter to Sead Čaušević Tuzla Canton prime minister, which I sent yesterday to the government and media, asking for his resignation.

A lot of the people are injured, a police was very brutal...

We issued an open letter to Sead Čaušević, Tuzla Kanton prime minister asking him to resign because of those what happened. I doubt that after that our office telephone lines and my personal mobile line and home telephone are eavesdroped (listened)...

Friday, february 7th.

A day started with sun and very nice temperature (18). Finally we welcomed a Bosnian spring.

Protests continued at 12:00. People from other cities came by buses to join us. But also special police forces are coming to join and support their coleagues. This time in fron of Tuzla Canton government were 10.000 people. Around 13:00 some of masked hooligans started to throw a stones to a surprising smaller number of the police forces. Police went back behind of Cantonal building, and a chaos started. Tuzla Canton goverement building was burned, municipality building also, in other cities also.

Police in Tuzla put off their helmets and shields and did not want to beate protesters any more.  Tiey did not defend a Cantonal building.

At the riots were injured more than 200 persons. Tuzla Canton, Hercegovina-Neretva Canton, Zenica-Doboj Canton, Sarajevo Canton governmental buildings are burned. Also Tuzla and Zenica municipality, Mostar municipality, Buildings of SDA and HDZ party in Mostar, Presidency building in Sarajevo...

Prime minister of Tuzla Canton Sead Čaušević resigned. Munib Husejnagić. Prime minister of Zenica-Doboj Canton resigned together with cantonal government, Hamdija Lipovača – prime minister of Unsko – Sanski Canton run out from B&H...

Since last night there is many official statements from B&H presidency, presidency of SDP party, minister of Federal police, and many others.. My impresion is that all of them are shocked and surprised... No one expected this. Most of them trying to manipulate with this protests, telling that other political parties, or RS, or even European Union who is pushing them to accept a third (croatian) entity, orchestrated this...

Also, the surprising thig is “mild”, “light”, “gentle” reaction of the International community. OHR, embassies in B&H, EU did not reacted, besides only a poor anouncements that they support a democracy and protests without violence... SHAME ON THEM!

Saturday, February 8th.

Situation in Tuzla is peacefull. Tuzla citizens, protesters and informal groups went to the Tuzla Canton government and municipality in order to clean a waste from the yesterday’s burning....

I just have a meeting with Lydia Gall – researcher from Human Rights Watch about the situation in Tuzla and Bosnia, and she promissed me that, if I will be abused, they will defend me... Hope not to be abused.

At the end I want to underline that neither I, nore my colleagues from ORC Tuzla supporting violence. We are strightly against that. And I also do not want to defend those young hooligans who burned a buildings last day in Tuzla and other cities, throw a stones to police, etc... But we have to understand that most of them are kids (16 years) who were born and grow up in a country without hope and with all kind of different preasures. Somehow they were forced to bursed and express their frustrations, unfortunatelly on this, violent way.

Hope everything will be OK.

Greetings from Tuzla

Miralem Tursinović

Director

Youth Resource Center (ORC) Tuzla

Hadži Bakirbega Tuzlića 1, 75000 Tuzla, BiH

Phone/fax: +387 35 258 077

e-mail: orctuzla@bih.net.ba

www.omladina-bih.net