The government of Republika Srpska held a special session on Friday to discuss the impact of mass protests in Sarajevo that trapped lawmakers and visitors in the BiH parliament building for several hours. The protests focused on the BiH legislature’s failure to pass a law on the issuing of identification numbers to BiH citizens.
In various statements, RS President Milorad Dodik and Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic referred to the protests last week as a “hostage situation,” and said that the protests had been organized by certain political parties in order to urge the international community’s representatives to intervene. RS officials also stated that RS lawmakers did not feel safe in Sarajevo during these protests.
High Representative Valentin Inzko, who personally addressed protesters last week, called a meeting of the Peace Implementation Council to discuss the protests. The High Representative and PIC stated that the international community would not impose any solution to the ID problem, and urged BiH politicians to implement a solution immediately.
