Date 5 & 6 April 1992 | ||
Location Sarajevo, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Causes Pro-Serb barricades set up around Sarajevo
Opposition to the Serbian paramilitary terrorist organizations
Opposition to the pro-Yugoslav government Goals Military withdrawal of the JNA forces and SDS paramilitary troops from Bosnia and Herzegovina Methods Demonstrations, Protests Result Government of the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina overthrown | ||
On 5 April 1992, in response to events all over Bosnia and Herzegovina 100,000 people of all nationalities turned out for a peace rally in Sarajevo. Serb snipers in the iconic Holiday Inn hotel under the control of the Serbian Democratic Party in the heart of Sarajevo opened fire on the crowd killing six people and wounding several more. Suada Dilberović and an ethnic Croat woman Olga Sučić were in the first rows, protesting on the Vrbanja bridge at the time. The bridge on which Sučić and Dilberović were killed was renamed in their honor. Six Serb snipers were arrested, but were exchanged when the Serbs threatened to kill the commandant of the Bosnian police academy who was captured the previous day, after the Serbs took over the academy and arrested him.
Contents
Testimony provided by former JNA General Aleksander Vasiljevića during the Slobodan Milosevic war crimes trial in The Hague contradicts the allegation that it was Serbian snipers who opened fire.
Storming of the parliament building
After the protesters had no other choice, they decided to storm into the parliament building where they founded the so-called "Narodni parliament" (People's parliament), and where they offered everybody to make a 2-minute speech on what should be done next in solving the siege problem. Many famous Sarajevans spoke to the full parliament main hall. The president of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović also appeared and presented himself more as a citizen, rather than a president which brought loud cheering and applause. The atmosphere was at its highest point when the commander of the Special forces unit of the Ministry of Interior, Dragan Vikić appeared and told the audience: "To arm against the Serbian aggression".
The spark that lit the flame
It is disputed between Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs who the first casualties of the Bosnian war are. Bosniaks and Croats consider the first casualties of the war to be Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić. Serbs consider Nikola Gardović, a groom's father who was killed at a Serb wedding procession on the second day of the referendum, on 1 March 1992 in Sarajevo's old town Baščaršija, to be the first victim of the war.