Yesterday's protest was a clear demand to the elected officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina at all levels to work in the interest of citizens, which they were elected to do. It's time leaders, politicians and civil servants committed to serving citizens, which is their first priority, said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.
Protesters demonstrated outside the government and parliament building in Sarajevo all day on Thursday, demanding the adoption of a law on citizens' personal identification numbers (JMBG) so that newborns can be assigned with the relevant identification documents otherwise they are not entitled to health care and cannot be issued travel documents.
The law has been on stand-by for months because Serb and Bosniak political parties cannot agree whether the registration areas for the JMBGs should cross entity borders.
The European Commission said ethnic or party politics must not be paramount and that the government should do its job.
The blockade of the government and parliament building ended on Friday morning. Among those who could not leave the building were 350 participants in an annual assembly of the European Fund for Southeast Europe, Bosnian media said.