MOSTAR AGGRAVATED MOSTAR, April 6 (Hina) - The situation in the southern Bosnian city of Mostar worsened on late Friday afternoon when angry citizens set up blockades on two streets and encircled the hotel "Ero" from which the staff
of the local office of the High Representatives to Bosnia-Herzegovina (OHR) was evacuated. The citizens (from the Croat-controlled western Mostar) began to gather in front of the OHR office in the Ero hotel earlier in the day when it was announced that the international community's High Representative decided to establish the temporary management over the Hercegovacka bank thus taking control over this private bank, believed by foreign diplomats to be the financial backbone of Croat self-rule which the Croat National Assembly (led by the HDZ BiH political party) set up in some Bosnian areas. The first deputy of the High Representative in Sarajevo, said on Friday that the mob broke into the Mostar headquarte
MOSTAR, April 6 (Hina) - The situation in the southern Bosnian city
of Mostar worsened on late Friday afternoon when angry citizens set
up blockades on two streets and encircled the hotel "Ero" from which
the staff of the local office of the High Representatives to Bosnia-
Herzegovina (OHR) was evacuated.
The citizens (from the Croat-controlled western Mostar) began to
gather in front of the OHR office in the Ero hotel earlier in the day
when it was announced that the international community's High
Representative decided to establish the temporary management over
the Hercegovacka bank thus taking control over this private bank,
believed by foreign diplomats to be the financial backbone of Croat
self-rule which the Croat National Assembly (led by the HDZ BiH
political party) set up in some Bosnian areas.
The first deputy of the High Representative in Sarajevo, said on
Friday that the mob broke into the Mostar headquarters of the bank,
injured several persons and started to loot.
The staff of the Mostar branch office of the High Representatives
was today evacuated from offices in the Ero Hotel, said a
spokeswoman for that branch office, Avis Benesh, on Friday.
She added that nobody was hurt during the evacuation.
Before the personnel was whisked away from the hotel, many citizens
started to gather in front of the hotel, but SFOR (NATO-led
Stabilisation Force in Bosnia) prevented them from entering, eye-
witnesses reported.
On Friday afternoon protesters blocked the road which goes from
Mostar to the town of Siroki Brijeg at two spots, a local station
reported.
According to this radio 'Siroki Brijeg', after that several SFOR
vehicles remained on the road between the two blockades and they
were continuing to drive up and down the road in order to find an
exit.
The same source added that angry Mostar citizens and SFOR members
shouted insults at one another from time to time.
One car of the OSCE was overturned on a road near Sirko Brijeg, while
an SFOR vehicle was lying overturned on a road between Sirki Brijeg
and Medjugorje, the same radio reported.
(hina) ms