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Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in cities across Bosnia on Friday, as demonstrations by unpaid workers in the northern city of Tuzla spread to other parts of the country and morphed into widespread discontent — in an election year — about unemployment and rampant corruption.
The protests, which began Tuesday, swelled to thousands of people taking their discontent over Bosnia’s unemployment rate of nearly 40 percent to the streets of a dozen cities, with at least 90 people injured as they clashed with riot police. The protests marked the worst civil unrest in Bosnia since its 1992–95 war.
In Tuzla, once the industrial heart of the country, a crowd stormed the local government building on Friday, throwing furniture, files and papers out of its windows before setting it on fire.
Protesters also set government buildings ablaze in the city of Zenica and the capital, Sarajevo, including the presidency building. Those fires were promptly extinguished, but almost all of the buildings’ windows were broken.
At least 10 people were injured in Zenica and 80 in Sarajevo on Friday, authorities said.
There were no immediate casualty figures from Tuzla, where the worst of the clashes took place. However, more than 130 people, including 104 police officers dispatched there, sought medical help on Thursday, mostly from the effects of tear gas.
"I think this is a genuine Bosnian Spring," Almir Arnaut, an unemployed economist and activist from Tuzla, told Reuters. "We have nothing to lose, there will be more and more of us in the streets, there are around 550,000 unemployed people in Bosnia."
As in anti-government protests that ignited the Arab Spring in late 2010, protesters — many of whom heeded calls on Facebook to take to the country’s streets — chanted "Thieves!" and "Revolution!"
The protests are about an ongoing workers’ dispute involving four former state-owned companies that were privatized and later filed for bankruptcy.
The companies, which included furniture and washing-powder factories, employed most of the population of Tuzla. After they were privatized, contracts obliged their owners to invest in them and make them profitable. But the owners sold the assets, stopped paying workers and filed for bankruptcy between 2000 and 2008.
Thousands gathered in four cities — Zenica, Mostar, Bihac and Sarajevo — on Thursday in solidarity with the Tuzla workers, but also to protest against Bosnia's high unemployment rate and politicians whom they accuse of being disconnected from citizens' needs. Public resentment has grown over the political bickering that has stifled governance and economic development since the country’s war ended in 1995.
Bosnians have many reasons to be unhappy as general elections approach in October. Besides having the highest unemployment rate in the Balkans, their country's privatization that followed the end of communism and the war produced a handful of tycoons, almost wiped out the middle class and sent the working class into poverty.
Corruption is widespread, and high taxes to fund a bloated public sector eat away at paychecks.
Wire services
On Thursday, police used tear gas to temporarily disperse protesters who threw stones at a local government building in Tuzla, which has been hit hard by factory closures in recent years. The protesters returned after the tear gas volley, surrounded the empty government building and set tires and trash on fire.
The protests in Tuzla, which began Tuesday, are about an ongoing dispute involving four former state-owned companies that were privatized and later filed for bankruptcy.
Thousands gathered in four other cities on Thursday in solidarity with the Tuzla workers, but also to protest against Bosnia's high unemployment rate and politicians whom they accuse of being disconnected from citizens' needs. Public resentment has grown over the political bickering that has stifled governance and economic development since a three-year war in the Balkan country ended in 1995.
More than 130 people, including 104 police officers, sought medical help in Tuzla on Thursday, mostly from the effects of tear gas.
The demonstrations reached Zenica, Mostar, Bihac and the capital city of Sarajevo, where protesters threw eggs at the local government building.
One of them, Nihad Alickovic, called for more citizens to join the protest.
"Take your problems out on the street," he urged.
Residents of buildings in Tuzla yelled insults and threw buckets of water at the officers who passed by in full riot gear. Elderly neighbors were seen banging cooking pots on their windows and balconies.
The four former state-owned companies, which included furniture and washing-powder factories, employed most of the population of Tuzla. After they were privatized, contracts obliged their owners to invest in them and make them profitable. But the owners sold the assets, stopped paying workers and filed for bankruptcy between 2000 and 2008.
The leader of the Tuzla region, Sead Causevic, told Bosnian state TV that the "rip-off privatization" was already concluded when his government took power and that the workers' demands are legitimate. He blamed the courts for obstructing justice, saying the workers turned to them years ago, but no judgment had ever been passed.
Bosnians have many reasons to be unhappy as general elections approach in October. Besides having the highest unemployment rate in the Balkans, the privatization that followed the end of communism and the 1992-95 war produced a handful of tycoons, almost wiped out the middle class and sent the working class into poverty.
Corruption is widespread and high taxes to fund a bloated public sector eat away at paychecks.
Wire services
On Thursday, police used tear gas to temporarily disperse protesters who threw stones at a local government building in Tuzla, which has been hit hard by factory closures in recent years. The protesters returned after the tear gas volley, surrounded the empty government building and set tires and trash on fire.
The protests in Tuzla, which began Tuesday, are about an ongoing dispute involving four former state-owned companies that were privatized and later filed for bankruptcy.
Thousands gathered in four other cities on Thursday in solidarity with the Tuzla workers, but also to protest against Bosnia's high unemployment rate and politicians whom they accuse of being disconnected from citizens' needs. Public resentment has grown over the political bickering that has stifled governance and economic development since a three-year war in the Balkan country ended in 1995.
More than 130 people, including 104 police officers, sought medical help in Tuzla on Thursday, mostly from the effects of tear gas.
The demonstrations reached Zenica, Mostar, Bihac and the capital city of Sarajevo, where protesters threw eggs at the local government building.
One of them, Nihad Alickovic, called for more citizens to join the protest.
"Take your problems out on the street," he urged.
Residents of buildings in Tuzla yelled insults and threw buckets of water at the officers who passed by in full riot gear. Elderly neighbors were seen banging cooking pots on their windows and balconies.
The four former state-owned companies, which included furniture and washing-powder factories, employed most of the population of Tuzla. After they were privatized, contracts obliged their owners to invest in them and make them profitable. But the owners sold the assets, stopped paying workers and filed for bankruptcy between 2000 and 2008.
The leader of the Tuzla region, Sead Causevic, told Bosnian state TV that the "rip-off privatization" was already concluded when his government took power and that the workers' demands are legitimate. He blamed the courts for obstructing justice, saying the workers turned to them years ago, but no judgment had ever been passed.
Bosnians have many reasons to be unhappy as general elections approach in October. Besides having the highest unemployment rate in the Balkans, the privatization that followed the end of communism and the 1992-95 war produced a handful of tycoons, almost wiped out the middle class and sent the working class into poverty.
Corruption is widespread and high taxes to fund a bloated public sector eat away at paychecks.
Wire services
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