Thousands of people, mostly students, gathered on Wednesday in the northern Bosnian town of Banja Luka in protest of the situation in society and their dissatisfaction with the incumbent government in the Serb entity Republika Srpska, demanding resolute action against growing crime and corruption.
The protestors gathered despite a ban issued by the Banja Luka police, explaining that the protest might "disrupt traffic".
A student representative said that the police had on Tuesday already taken in several of the rally's organisers for questioning.
Bosnian Serb entity President Milorad Dodik said that the protests were politically motivated and had nothing to do with student problems.
Similar massive protests were held in Sarajevo over the past few days by disgruntled citizens demanding that the parliament adopts a new law on a unified citizens' identification number however the protests subsided on Wednesday.
The US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Patrick Moon, expressed support to protestors in Sarajevo. He told reporters that peaceful protests were part of any democracy and this was simply a way citizens wished to express their dissatisfaction which has accumulated over the years.
Moon said there was no excuse for officials not doing the job they were paid for.
