The second day of intense clashes between protestors and the police in Tuzla shows no signs of slowing down. The protests have intensified, with reports by Fena that more than 6.000 people are out on the streets of Tuzla today.
Police have cordoned off the government building in an effort to push back protestors, who continue to throw rocks and have destroyed the first floor of the building.
Today, high school students joined the protesting unemployed workers from several formerly state-owned companies that privatized and left many people jobless. They took to the streets to demand the salaries that they have not yet received. Soon afterwards, protestors started chanting ‘out with the government’ and ‘thieves, thieves’.
The protest fervor has spread to other cities in B&H today. People in Sarajevo, Zenica and Bihać gathered in front of the buildings of their cantonal government to show their support to protestors in Tuzla, and to voice their growing frustration with the debilitating economic and social situation in their country.
According to the latest information from klix portal, the police have set up cordons in four streets around the building of the Tuzla Canton government and formed a wide circle, and behind every cordon there are protesters.
The protests that began yesterday, whose immediately catalyst was the privatization of companies, immediately turned into a mass expression of the economic, social and political stagnation in the entire country. The corruption-laden climate in B&H has now mobilized thousands of people to take to the streets, who see this as their only recourse to action that could potentially turn the tide.