by Maja BJELAJAC
The scene had somewhat paradoxical appearance even for the environment in which it was taking place. 2,226 policemen were preventing demonstrators from preventing the president of Srpska, Sarovic, and reis Ceric to together lay a corner stone for the reconstructed Ferhadija mosque.
Far from the main ceremony the mob tried to went its anger by throwing stones and breaking a few policemen's heads.
Although it was obvious that this task was rather difficult for most policemen (who stopped forward surges of the mob, arrested the most violent protesters, and used force only in the most critical moments), all of that did not prevent the fiercest extremists from seeing only "a handful of patriotic minors" among the protesters. Naturally, they decided that the policemen were the "bad guys".
"Ustashe, why are you beating the youth! Do you have children?!" a woman howled towards the police cordon.
The epilogue of the street clashes between the police and "children" was rather surprising. About twenty hurt policemen (three of them with serious injuries) and out of 97 arrested protesters - four with light injuries.
The spectrum of insults with which the demonstrators in front of the cordon "treated" the police was indeed impressive.
"Some of them were saying 'don't do it, this is our people...', as if we in the police were not Serbs. I suppose we are lesser Serbs than the protesters?," one of the members of the Special Police from Banja Luka, who was wounded several times in the war, wonders. He emphasizes: "We are not 'people's militia' anymore. We protect the state."
Protesters: About 90 policemen of the Special Police Service from Banja Luka, Banja Luka and Sarajevo support units and the support unit from Doboj took part in the direct dispersion of the protesters. These 150 special policemen dispersed the protesters and arrested the most aggressive among them.
"We could have broken them if we wanted. But we did not touch those who did not resist. Really, the use of force was minimal. One of the protesters hit a policeman with an iron bar next to the eye," one of the policemen says. He confirms that the mob included mostly Borac soccer club fans (Vultures), many more than on May 7. Vultures were very persistent in trying to provoke violence. His conclusion is that demonstrations were organized by the same center as the last time because the same people could be seen in the streets on May 7 and June 18. Three of the arrested protesters were indicted for violence on May 7 as well.
Some policemen recognized a "colleague" among the demonstrators.
One member of the Intelligence-Security Service (OBS) was seen on the other side of the police cordon but, the policemen claim, he was not on duty. "We got him on the head with a baton. He was not on duty. Later they called us from the OBS to find out what was going on, but everything was clear - we were going against those who incited violence."
However, the heated atmosphere on June 18 did not result in victims, the Srpska authorities earned a few points with the international community, and the corner stone is now protected by police patrols.
The police say that they managed to destroy the psychological barrier at these demonstrations. They simply did their job without thinking who is "on the other side".
One of the Srpska police officials concluded: "That barrier was exactly broken in the sense of the reply to the question who actually endangers this state."
Some of the minor protesters have yet to face the judiciary. Instead of their teachers, the police delivered successful lesson that political will is not expressed by stones.
"As the crowd warmed up, there were indications that there would be problems. Then, I faced a dilemma. Indeed, on one side there was the Serb people, then the Serb police and on the other side reis and the president of Srpska who were laying the corner stone and now we were supposed to be a buffer. It seemed somewhat illogical, but we did our job. After getting there, immediately after the strongest attack of the protesters, I was a bit shocked. I wasn't really scared, because I was aware that we could disperse them and that they could not cause much trouble. However, I felt sorry for the policemen who were already there. It was really horrible to see those stones flying. I do not know where they managed to find them, where they were bringing them from," this young man recalls. He noticed that mostly very young boys were rushing the cordon and throwing stones. "That had nothing to do with patriotism and the mosque. They were simply getting something out of that, a rush, or something. It was obvious that it did not make any sense, especially when they started calling us names, like Ustashe."
He admits that that provokes revulsion, but at that time he did not feel anything. "Simply I waited for all of that to pass. However, when we realized that the police could not withstand those attacks, we were ordered to try to separate protesters from the police cordon." While passing through the cordon, while they were pushing aside the fence, this special policemen was hit by a stone. "When we stepped out towards the crowd I felt a strong blow in the head, but I did not feel pain." To the question whether at the moment when he was hit he saw in front of himself children, protesters or simply a mob, he responds: "Well, 180 pound kids that can throw 4 pound stones are not exactly kids. I was full of adrenalin but you have to focus on the orders. At the moment I got hit in the head, I had a clear picture of what was happening around me, but I did not have a clear picture of my own emotional state. I did not feel fear, hatred... Nothing."
He says that then special policemen continued to move forward and pushed the protesters away from the police cordon.
Once that was finished, they pulled back towards the cordon, which "encouraged" the rest of the protesters, who followed them. "I noticed that the visor on my helmet had been broken and fallen off, that I had been hit and that my lip was hurting. The jaw was getting numb and I was not aware at that moment what was going on. I felt blood in my mouth, but I was not choking or something like that. I saw the injury and was aware that it was not serious. Only when I headed back I felt a sharp pang in the knee and noticed that I could not walk. The pain was getting worse all the time," this policeman recalls. After that he got the permission to abandon the action.
"I felt bad because of the way some of our people think... as if we had come to beat the Serb people instead of helping them. I felt a bit bad and miserable, but what can you do..." he summarized June 18.