The EUFOR Liaison Observation Team (LOT) in Brčko dealt today with a protest in front of their house. The LOT Commander started negotiations with the interpreter but the negotiations failed and the protesters became more and more aggressive.
Exercise Quick Response 2020 uses its own LOT Houses for this kind of training to simulate possible evacuation from Embassy’s or other designated official buildings. All 3 of the mobile Multinational Companies have been tested with a variation of this scenariro to ensure the integration training has been succssful.
Backup on this occasion came from the Austrian Company and once on the scene, secured the area with crowd and riot controll techniques. The simulated ritoting action looked and sounding like the real thing but the Austrians were clearly up to the task. Once dispersed, they moved in and arrested the leaders with skill and precision.
“On the third day of Exercise Quick Response 2020, A Coy 3 PARA, as part of the Multinational Battalion were tasked to rapidly deploy to support an EUFOR Local Observation Team (LOT) House in Jablanica. This required a strong and rapid deployment over a long distance of the majority of the Company group, transported in protected mobility Foxhound vehicles.
The situation was a complex one with the Company needing to disperse demonstrators, deal with an improvised explosive device, and assist the LOT House personnel to evacuate.
It was an excellent, highly visible and thoroughly credible example of a coordinated response using British, Hungarian and Turkish troops. Local Police also vital in ensuring a safe outcome to the situation.
Day 3 of EUFOR’s Exercise Quick Response saw all of the deployed Company’s complete the delicate negotiation piece coupled with the more kinetic activity of dispersing and arresting aggressive, armed protestors. The challenges today made harder with the addition of dealing with Improvised Explosive Devices.
At Sarajevo International Airport, a major complex incident involving hostage negotiation, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and the retaking of a live airliner needed the EUFOR Hungarian Company who were yesterday in Ustikolina, to secure the perimeter.
Expert teams from SIPA, BiH Law Enforcement Agencies and bomb disposal synchronised like clockwork to bring everything under control under the watchful gaze of a room full of BiH Ministers, EUFOR Commanders and Sarajevo International Airport Crisis Staff.
