SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, May 7 (Hina) - Four buses which brought Bosniak refugees to the Bosnian Serb capital of Banja Luka were set on fire during riots which broke on Monday, while the Bosnian foreign minister's official car was
damaged. The buses were set on fire near the site where the foundation stone for a mosque was set to be laid, said the spokesman for the United Nations Mission in Bosnia, Douglas Coffman. The mosque had been razed to the ground by local Serb authorities in May 1993, and it took three years after the end of the war to get permission for its reconstruction. The car of Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija was hit with a stone, which broke the back window but did not injure the official, who was forced to seek shelter on the premises of the Islamic Community, completely surrounded by thousands of Serb protesters. The premises of the Islamic Community provided shelt
SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, May 7 (Hina) - Four buses which brought
Bosniak refugees to the Bosnian Serb capital of Banja Luka were set
on fire during riots which broke on Monday, while the Bosnian
foreign minister's official car was damaged.
The buses were set on fire near the site where the foundation stone
for a mosque was set to be laid, said the spokesman for the United
Nations Mission in Bosnia, Douglas Coffman.
The mosque had been razed to the ground by local Serb authorities in
May 1993, and it took three years after the end of the war to get
permission for its reconstruction.
The car of Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija was hit with a
stone, which broke the back window but did not injure the official,
who was forced to seek shelter on the premises of the Islamic
Community, completely surrounded by thousands of Serb protesters.
The premises of the Islamic Community provided shelter also for the
head of the U.N. Mission to Bosnia, Jacques Klein, United States
Ambassador Thomas Miller, British Ambassador Graham Hand, and
dozens of other diplomats who arrived to attend the laying of the
foundation stone.
The riotous crowd sang Serb nationalist songs, hurled insults at
Bosniaks, threw stones and eggs, and set an Islamic Community flag
on fire.
Banja Luka police head Vladimir Tutus said 300 police had tried to
curb the violence but that "it is difficult to control this many
people." Three police were lightly injured.
The UN Mission said the Bosnian Serb police had not done all it could
have and should have expected the incidents. Last Saturday, Serb
extremists prevented with violence and riots the laying of a
foundation stone for a mosque in Trebinje. Bosnian Serb authorities
were warned on that occasion to prevent something similar from
happening in Banja Luka.
(hina) ha