BOSNIA SARAJEVO GRBAVICA RALLY

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(7 Dec 1995) English/Nat • • More then three-thousand people from a Serb-controlled suburb of Sarajevo have protested against plans to put them under the rule of their former enemies - the Muslims and Croats. • • The Grbavica rally is probably the last on its kind before a referendum of Sarajevo's Serbs on the Dayton peace deal is held next Tuesday (Dec 12). • • Many Serbs fear they will be expelled from their homes if the city becomes united. • • At least three thousand Serbs - the organisers said five thousand - came to the Serb end of the so-called 'Bridge of Brotherhood and Unity'. • • They were protesting at plans to put them under Bosnian government control. • • Under the U-S sponsored peace deal - the Serb-controlled suburbs of Sarajevo will be reunited with the government side of the city - whether the current residents like it or not. • • The rally was very emotional and noisy - the organisers wanted to make sure that people in the other half of the city heard them. • • Nationalist songs and rock music blared out across the crowd. • • Radivoje Jovljevic held up a photo of his eight-year old son Srdjan (Ser-jan) who was killed on his doorstep by a sniper in 1992. • • Before the war began this part of town - called Grbavica - was mostly populated by Muslims. • • But virtually all of them were expelled in 1992. • • The rally had a simple message - the people here don't want to live under Bosnian government control - they fear they will be evicted and abused. • • They carried placards saying Our roots are here and This is our land to emphasise their claims. • • An American flag was destroyed - showing the crowd's anger at the role of the United States in forcing a peace agreement on the Bosnian Serbs. • • Speakers at the rally scorned the idea that they would be safe in a united city. • • SOUNDBITE: (English) • He says that his police can guarantee our lives. • • SUPER CAPTION: Serb Resident • • One member of the crowd explained why he was at the rally. • • SOUNDBITE: (English) • These people here in Serb Sarajevo want just to stay in their home town. Nothing else. To live in peace to live in their home town where we lived before. • • SUPER CAPTION: VOXPOP • • The rally showed one thing - a peace deal may have been agreed between governments but at the grass-roots there's a lot of work still to do. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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