Protests against Migrant Influx in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hundreds of Bosnians protested against the large influx of migrants in the western border town of Bihach. They warned about security and health risks from the fact that thousands of migrants are sleeping outdoors.

About 25,000 people from Asia and North Africa entered Bosnia and Herzegovina from Serbia and Montenegro last year, about 9,000 arrived this year. Newcomers want to reach richer countries through Croatia. About 6,000 migrants are now in Bihach and Velika Kladushha, but only 3,500 are accommodated in four transit centers, the rest are sleeping in parks and abandoned buildings.

Last week, the police searched private homes and found 300 migrants. They were moved in tents on the place of a former landfill. The UN warned the Bosnian authorities not to move the migrants and identified the choice of land as inadequate, without sanitation, running water and electricity. The place is also near to mining war fields in the 1990s.

Another 200 migrants were transferred at weekends to a Red Cross camp in the Vucjak district where water and food cans were provided. 

“I came here to express dissatisfaction with the situation politicians have brought upon both us and migrants,” said Maja Tabakovic, 35, at the peaceful rally in the main square.

“The whole town is feeling insecure.”, the local residents say.

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