There will be no public celebration of November 25, the Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Mrkonjić City and Banja Luka, because the Republika Srpska police banned the gatherings that were supposed to be held on that occasion. In the explanation, it was stated that there could be a threat to the safety of people and property, as well as a violation of public order and peace.
In explaining the ban on the announced gatherings in Banja Luka and Mrkonjić Grad, the police state:
“Taking into account that the meeting of SABNOR of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Municipal Veterans’ Organization Mrkonjić Grad was announced on the same day at the same place, we appreciate that due to the gathering of a large number of participants and visitors of the announced meetings, organized by organizations with different program commitments, there is a real the danger that their maintenance would endanger the safety of people and property and that there would be a serious danger of violence or disruption of public order and peace on a larger scale.”
Regardless of such decisions, no one can erase history, says academician and member of the wartime Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirko Pejanović.
“It was not forbidden by the MoI, it was forbidden by the official policy of the Republika Srpska, i.e. the parliamentary majority and the current leadership, it is temporary. ZAVNOBiH was not created only by the people of Sarajevo, or from Zenica, Zvornik, it was created by citizens and peoples from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
“It is not possible to undo something that happened in history. It is something that happened, we can only have different attitudes and interpretations. I think that we have a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina that formally advocates for ZAVNOBiH and swears by it, but I am not sure that many in this part really want to share all the values he established,” says historian Husnija Kamberović.
Sad and problematic, this is how historian Damir Markovina described this situation. Banning opens up a cycle of potential incidents.
“We have to learn to live in a country that should essentially be democratic and respect all our differences, which is a lesson that, I’m afraid, we haven’t learned yet. That’s one of the flaws of that socialist society that was created after ZAVNOBiH in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
They also announced from SABNOR Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“After the shameful decision of the police of Republika Srpska from Mrkonjić City to ban the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the First Session of ZAVNOBiH in that city, we express the strongest protest against it, because the stated reason about the impossibility of guaranteeing security is fabricated and it is purely a political decision,” he says in the statement.
According to historian Predrag Lozo, decisions on banning such gatherings were made on the basis of legally valid regulations.
“If Bosnia and Herzegovina, as it is today, rests on the principle of the equality of the people, the constitutionality of the entity, we will agree that, if certain gatherings are prohibited in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, then the competent institutions of the Republika Srpska, in accordance with the legal and constitutional provisions, can determine whether a gathering is subject to certain criteria or not. There is no need for any imposition, on the territory of the Republic of Srpska ZAVNOBIH is not Statehood Day,” says Lozo.
In the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, there has never been a majority for the adoption of the Law on Holidays. The twenty-fifth of November is celebrated based on the principle of continuity of legal regulations, as the law of post-Dayton BiH.
