Bosnians Stage Fresh Protests Over Youngsters' Deaths

More than 1,000 Bosnian protesters gathered at 6pm on Wednesday in the capital, Sarajevo, and in the main city of Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, Banja Luka, urging the authorities to resolve the unsolved deaths of two young men.

For over seven months, people have gathered daily at 6pm in Banja Luka's Krajina Square, which has become known as "David's Square", to protest over the unexplained death of 21-year-old David Dragicevic.

Wednesday's protest in Banja Luka drew a crowd of up to 500 hundred people, according to media reports, on the same day that Republika Srpska celebrates the 23rd anniversary of the Dayton agreement, which ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.

David's father, Davor Dragicevic, thanked "the state, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the diaspora" for their support at the rally on Wednesday evening. 

"For 241 days [since my son died] I have been wondering and hoping [for answers]," he said during the protest, local media reported, adding: "We seek the right for life for children."

Dragicevic also sent his greetings to Muriz Memic, who had organised a simultaneous protest in Sarajevo. Memic's own son Dzenan died in 2016 after being taken to hospital with severe injuries blamed on a traffic accident, but which his parents do not dispute.

 The last protest in October mustered some 40,000 people.

"In this country, we have no right to life and dignity; in this country we can not get justice through institutions. In this country, we have no right to peace because they are killing our children," Davor Dragicevic wrote on the Facebook group "Justice for David", urging Bosnians to gather at town or city squares all over the country.

According to posts in the same group, which has...