SARAJEVO/BRCKO, Sept 18 (Hina) - At least four persons were injured and a dozen arrested in a clash between police and owners of business facilities and land in the area of the so-called Arizona market near Brcko, northern
Bosnia-Herzegovina, on Wednesday morning.
SARAJEVO/BRCKO, Sept 18 (Hina) - At least four persons were injured
and a dozen arrested in a clash between police and owners of
business facilities and land in the area of the so-called Arizona
market near Brcko, northern Bosnia-Herzegovina, on Wednesday
morning. #L#
The conflict occurred when police officers of the Brcko District
tried to ensure the arrival of market inspectors at the privately-
owned pieces of land in the area of the biggest Bosnian inter-entity
market in order to provide conditions for the construction of a
modern shopping centre.
The owners of the land tried to prevent the inspectors from entering
the land and sealing the business facilities.
A spokesman for the Brcko District police, Tomislav Rovcevic, said
ten people, including one woman, had been apprehended during the
incidents.
According to eye-witnesses, at least four persons sustained
injuries and had to ask for treatment in a local clinic.
This has so far been the gravest incident in relation to the dispute
over the district authorities' right to expropriate some land and
the owners' insistence on their right to their property.
The authorities have drafted a plan for the renovation of the
Arizona market explaining it as their attempt to prevent many
irregularities and the rampant black marketeering.
The owners of the land, most of whom are Croats, oppose it strongly
as they believe that their land will only be sold to a private
Italian company.
(hina) ms