Government News: Top Stories

Police battle protesting Bosnian veterans
by Maja Zuvela and Miran Jelenek

Reuters Translate This Article
21 April 2010

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas and water cannon on Wednesday in a clash with thousands of veterans of Bosnia's 1992-95 war protesting at benefit cuts in the most violent protest in years in the troubled Balkan country.

Doctors from Sarajevo's Clinical Centre said 33 people were wounded, three seriously, in clashes that lasted several hours.

Former soldiers and their families converged from across Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation to vent anger at a government decision to cut veterans' benefits as an austerity measure under an International Monetary Fund stand-by loan deal.

The veterans hurled huge stone blocks and bottles at police guarding a government building that they tried to storm. They also set a police cabin on fire.

A Reuters cameraman saw one man bleeding from the head. Ambulances collected the injured amid thick smoke from tear gas. The windows of buildings lining the street were smashed after police fired stun grenades.

Hours after the protests began, veterans continued to withdraw, regroup and charge back towards the government office. Police in riot gear tightly cordoned the building, trying to avoid a direct clash with protesters.

When told that no government officials would meet them, the demonstrators turned violent and began attacking police and the building. No one from government offices inside the building answered telephone calls.

'The government is dealing separately with each group of veterans, while raising its own fiefdoms and fortunes at the same time,' said Mujo Porobic, a disabled, decorated veteran.

'We who went to war barefooted and hungry are still penniless today but have a new burden—they are preventing us from sending our children to schools,' said Porobic, carrying a banner reading 'Government = Elite of Bandits.'

The leader of the association of decorated war veterans, Dzevad Radzo, said they were not seeking special treatment.

'We are ready to bear our part of the burden to ease the impact of the crisis but everybody else should do the same,' he said.

Bosnia clinched a 1.2 billion euros (1 billion pounds) stand-by arrangement with the IMF last year to ease the impact of the global economic crisis and preserve fiscal stability.

Under the deal, the government of Bosnia's two regions, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic, have to cut public spending, and especially the generous benefits granted to veterans as a pre-election sweetener in 2006.

The Muslim-Croat federation parliament has passed tougher criteria for payments to groups related to the 1992-95 war, which accounted for 40 percent of the region's budget.

The veterans are strongly opposed to the introduction of a property census as the main criterion for their payments, due to come into force in January 2011. They want the same standard to apply to all budget beneficiaries, including state employees, which is not possible under the law.

(Writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Adam Tanner and Paul Taylor)

Copyright 2010 Reuters. Reprinted with permission from Reuters. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution or Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters Sphere Logo are registered trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. For additional information about Reuters content and services, please visit Reuters website at www.reuters.com. License # REU-5918-MES

Global Good News comment:

For Maharishi's Vedic Approach to solving the problems of today's news, please visit:
http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com

For the good news about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York

Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google)
(Altavista babelfish)