http://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0010&L=justwatch-l&D=1&O=D&F=&S =&P=76142 Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 11:56:57 -0400 Reply-To: International Justice Watch Discussion List
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<JUSTWATCH-L at LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU> From: Andras Riedlmayer <riedlmay at FAS.HARVARD.EDU> Subject: Serb students demonstrate for apartheid, invoke Karadzic Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII (cross-posting of comments only permitted)
Further to Edin's posting about the mobilization of 'people power' for apartheid in Brcko. Radovan Karadzic's invocation of the spirit of Gandhi may be merely bizarre, but the Brcko Serb students' invocation of the spirit of Radovan is downright scary ... as is the apparent slowness of the international authorities in Bosnia in responding to the breakdown of public order in Brcko.
Shouting anti-Muslim slogans, more than 1,000 Bosnian Serb
high school students surged through Brcko on Wednesday, stoning
Muslim houses, smashing store windows and demanding an end
to the city's multiethnic status.
The crowd carried Serbian flags and the banner of Serbian
extremists - a white skull on black background - which
were waved by paramilitary groups responsible for some of
the most gruesome acts of murder, rape and ethnic cleansing
during the 3 1/2-year Bosnian war.
The students smashed shop windows and threw stones, eggs and
tomatoes at local police officers who stood by without attempting
to bring the crowd to order. [...]
The latest unrest was sparked Friday when a group of Serb students
beat up a Muslim student after classes. Serb and Muslim youths
share school buildings in Brcko but attend class in separate
shifts.
Muslim students refused to attend class Monday, demanding
better security. The next day, Serb students took the dispute
to the streets, requesting there be separate schools and stoning
Muslim property. [...]
Protesters carried their demands beyond the school issue on
Wednesday. Two young men led the crowd, carrying the flag of
the Serb Democratic Party - a hard-line party established by
Bosnia's top war-crimes suspect, Radovan Karadzic. [...]
[On Thursday, m]ore than 1,000 young Bosnian Serbs - high school
and college students, most in their late teens - gathered in the
center of town, chanting the name of indicted war crimes suspect
Radovan Karadzic and cursing Bosnian Muslims.
For a photo of the Serb student demonstrator in action, see http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20001018/wl/bosnia_unrest.html
The lame response of the international authorities to the events in Brcko is exemplified by this comment from IPTF spokesman Douglas Coffman:
"These students should really go back to school and let
their elected politicians try to resolve the problems,"
Coffman said.
Local residents said agitators from Bosnian Serb extremist
parties exploited the tensions, urging students to expand
their demands to include an end to the multiethnic character
and administration of the town.
Andras Riedlmayer ====================================================================== Associated Press October 18, 2000, Wednesday
Students demand end to multiethnic status of disputed Bosnian town
By ALMIR ARNAUT, Associated Press Writer
BRCKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Oct. 18 (AP) - Shouting anti-Muslim slogans, more than 1,000 Bosnian Serb high school students surged through Brcko on Wednesday, stoning Muslim houses, smashing store windows and demanding an end to the city's multiethnic status.
The crowd carried Serbian flags and the banner of Serbian extremists - a white skull on black background - which were waved by paramilitary groups responsible for some of the most gruesome acts of murder, rape and ethnic cleansing during the 3 1/2-year Bosnian war.
The students smashed shop windows and threw stones, eggs and tomatoes at local police officers who stood by without attempting to bring the crowd to order.
Last year, Brcko was designated a multiethnic district in Bosnia, after more than four years of dispute over whether the town should be under Muslim or Serb control. The Serbs overran the town during the war, expelling the Muslims.
An American peacekeeping contingent is stationed in the multiethnic district, but was not involved in Wednesday's violence.
The latest unrest was sparked Friday when a group of Serb students beat up a Muslim student after classes. Serb and Muslim youths share school buildings in Brcko but attend class in separate shifts.
Muslim students refused to attend class Monday, demanding better security. The next day, Serb students took the dispute to the streets, requesting there be separate schools and stoning Muslim property.
Protesters carried their demands beyond the school issue on Wednesday. Two young men led the crowd, carrying the flag of the Serb Democratic Party - a hard-line party established by Bosnia's top war-crimes suspect, Radovan Karadzic.
The office of Bosnia's top international official condemned the violence and linked it to nationwide voting scheduled for Nov. 11.
"We completely condemn such acts of violence and these students are clearly being manipulated ahead of the elections next month," said Chris Bird, a spokesman for Wolfgang Petritsch. "This is totally unacceptable."
Under Bosnia's 1995 peace agreement, the country is divided in two autonomous regions, one run by Bosnian Serbs and the other shared by the country's Muslims and Croats. A NATO-led peacekeeping force was installed to help enforce the peace.
But Brcko, a river port that sits strategically on a narrow bridge of land connecting Serb-held areas in the east and west of the country, was bitterly disputed for years. Both the Muslims and Serbs claim it as their own. _________________________________________________________________________ Associated Press October 19, 2000, Thursday
U.S. troops blocked from moving, pelted with eggs as Serb protest continues
By ALEXANDAR S. DRAGICEVIC, Associated Press Writer
BRCKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Oct. 19 (AP) - Bosnian Serb students blocked U.S. peacekeepers from patrolling through this ethnically tense town and pelted their vehicles with eggs Thursday in a third day of protests demanding that Muslims leave.
More than 1,000 young Bosnian Serbs - high school and college students, most in their late teens - gathered in the center of town, chanting the name of indicted war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic and cursing Bosnian Muslims.
Protests began Tuesday after a group of Bosnian Serb students beat up a Bosnian Muslim student last week. Serb and Muslim students share high school buildings but attend classes in two shifts. After the beating, Muslims demanded better security and the Bosnian Serbs began agitating for separate schools.
A multinational unit of elite Bosnian riot police, commanded by the NATO-peacekeeping force, was sent into town Thursday after local police appeared to have lost control. The crowd shoved its way through a police cordon and entered the town hall to present demands to municipal authorities who later met to discuss how to resolve the situation.
"There will be no compromise over the demands," one of the Bosnian Serb students, Srebrenko Savic, told reporters. Police prevented several protesters from removing a Bosnian flag from the town hall.
U.S. troops from a NATO base on the edge of town manned roadblocks Thursday, checking vehicles entering Brcko for weapons and explosives. An American convoy of about a dozen Humvees was unable to pass through the streets because of the crowd.
The U.S. troops parked their vehicles, which were pelted with eggs and bananas.
Demonstrators on three previous days smashed Muslim-owned houses and businesses with stones.
Local police requested and received reinforcements from both parts of ethnically divided Bosnia. In addition, special units of NATO-led riot police made of Italian carabinieri, also arrived in Brcko.
"We condemn the acts of violence which have occurred in the past couple of days. We do expect that some arrests will occur," Douglas Coffman, spokesman for the U.N. police force that monitors and supervises the local police in Bosnia, said.
"These students should really go back to school and let their elected politicians try to resolve the problems," Coffman said.
Local residents said agitators from Bosnian Serb extremist parties exploited the tensions, urging students to expand their demands to include an end to the multiethnic character and administration of the town.
Brcko long has been considered one of the most serious potential flashpoints in Bosnia-Herzegovina since the Dayton peace agreement ended the country's 3 1/2 year ethnic war in 1995.
Bosnian Serbs overran the town during the war and expelled Muslim and Croat residents. The Dayton peace conference failed to resolve who would control the town.
Last year, the international overseers who effectively govern Bosnia decreed that Brcko would be under multiethnic administration. The deal angered both Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims who insisted on exclusive control. -------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC Summary of World Broadcasts October 18, 2000, Wednesday
Bosniak pupils in disputed Bosnian town boycott schools after attacks
Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Serbo-Croat 1553 gmt 16 Oct 00 Excerpt from report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA
Brcko, October 16 - Bosniak [Muslim] pupils, attending afternoon sessions in secondary schools in the disputed town of Brcko, declined to go to school today, demanding better security arrangements.
Several hundred High School and Business School pupils marched to the police station in Bosnia-Hercegovina's district of Brcko and continued to the Technical School building, asking its pupils to join the protest. The professors did not let the pupils join the protest, whereupon the protesters broke several windows of the Technical School building.
Neither the head of the education department of Brcko District, Hasija Zejnilovic, nor the heads of the schools could give an answer as to the cause of the protest rally.
According to the Bosniak pupils, who chanted slogans such as 'Boycott the School', 'We Will Stay Home' and 'This Is Bosnia', they had gathered to express their protest against attacks on Bosniak pupils on Friday, 13th October... -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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