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Bosnian Serbs Violently Protest Rebuilding Of Mosque
SARAJEVO, May 5 (News Agencies) - Several people were injured and international officials were forced to seek shelter when a protest by hundreds of angry Serbs against the rebuilding of an 18th century mosque turned violent Saturday, a United Nations spokesman said here.
"Several people were injured, among them at least one journalist," Douglas Coffman, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Bosnia said.
Several hundred Serbs protested in the southern town of Trebinje against the rebuilding of the Ferhat Pasina Mosque, one of 10 destroyed in the Serb-dominated town during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.
"We obviously condemn this act of mob violence," Coffman added. None of the injuries were believed to be serious.
The office of the top international envoy Wolfgang Petritsch said their envoy in southern town of Mostar was among those injured.
"Daniel Ruiz sustained slight injuries, but following a brief visit to a hospital he returned to his office in Trebinje," Oleg Milisic a spokesman for Petritsch told AFP.
"I understand that there have been other slight injuries, but I do not have precise information," he added.
Local and foreign officials attending the event sought refugee in the nearby Islamic center as the demonstration turned violent, forcing the postponement of the ceremony.
They were later escorted out of the town by Spanish troops from the NATO-led stabilization force in Bosnia, an SFOR spokesman in Mostar said.
Witnesses said Serb police appeared to do little to stop the violence.
"This is a clear case of violation of basic human rights, but despite everything the mosque will be rebuilt," the head of Islamic community in Bosnia Mustafa Ceric said in Trebinje, stressing that the ceremony had only been postponed, not cancelled.
Reconstruction work was to begin Saturday with the symbolic laying of the cornerstone, which had been personally brought from the Spanish city of Zaragoza by the city's mayor Jose Altarez.
Despite the approval of the local Serb authorities, Bosnian Serb refugees living in this once predominantly Muslim city descended on the area to protest the reconstruction, part of efforts to resettle Muslims in the area.
The protesting mob sang songs celebrating Radovan Karadzic, a wartime Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war crimes suspect.
They chanted anti-Muslim slogans and waved nationalist Serb flags, Sanjin Beciragic, duty editor at a local television station, said.
Protestors also burned a flag of the Islamic religious community.
The U.S. embassy in Sarajevo strongly condemned the events in Trebinje, as well as the "symbols of bigotry" of those who took part in the violence.
"The beating an OHR official is absolutely unacceptable and we insist that the Republika Srpska [RS - Bosnian Serb entity] authorities ensure that those responsible are held accountable," a press release from the embassy said.
Meanwhile, RS authorities in Banja Luka expressed regret over the incident in Trebinje adding that they were committed to religious tolerance.
"The Republika Srpska government does not accept any form of violence to be used as a way of gaining political goals and this will not be tolerated by us," a government statement said.
"The government will...take all necessary measures in order to prevent these kinds of problems from occurring at other similar events," it added.
The U.N. international police task force (IPTF) said it had begun an investigation into the performance of the local police, stressing that local police "did not take adequate measures soon enough to ensure security for the ceremony, or prevent the assaults."
"The U.N. will not tolerate this behavior going unpunished," it added in a statement.
A foundation stone for another mosque, at the famous 16th century Ferhadija, was to be laid Monday in Banja Luka, an event that RS police have classified as a "high-risk" operation.
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