DISPLACED SERBS, WHO FOUND ACCOMMODATION IN BRCKO, STAGE RALLY

BRCKO, July 21 (Hina) - From early Friday afternoon to about 03.00 pm, the downtown Brcko war blocked. Displaced Serbs and some Serb citizens staged a protest rally in the centre of Brcko, northern Bosnian town on the right bank of the Sava river. The protesters - Serbs who moved into Brcko during the war - insisted on the discontinuation of their evictions from flats and houses they are now occupying, and on the resolution of their housing problems. The demonstrators asked for the dissolution of a housing commission established by the Brcko-based branch office of the international community's High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, which tackles the housing issues and the return of pre-war citizens to their homes in Brcko. Police of the Brcko District blocked all streets leading to the site of the rally which was staged before District Authorities premises. The protesters also asked that Brcko local authorities and Bosnian Serb entity's representatives address them. At about 01.30 pm the Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, Petar Djokic, and the Bosnian Serb minister in charge of refugees, Miladin Dragicevic, arrived in Brcko to address the rally. Shortly upon their arrival it was announced that the aforementioned housing commission was dissolved. Then, a delegation of the protesters held talks with Djokic, Dragicevic and Brcko District Mayor Sinisa Kisic, whereas some 1,000 demonstrators blocked the main entrance to the building of the District government. After the conclusions of the talks were presented to them, protesters dispersed. They were told that 500 construction sites would be given to Serb displaced persons, within a project "Brcko 2000". During the rally no physical attacks were reported, and only several verbal insults could be heard. (hina) mm ms