ABSTRACT
On 7 May 2001, several thousand rioters disrupted the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the Ferhadija Mosque in Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska (RS). At least 34 persons were injured; one elderly Bosniak man subsequently died of his injuries. Police looked on as demonstrators set buses and cars on fire and trapped about 400 Bosniak pilgrims, as well as local and international officials, inside the Islamic Community Centre for several hours. This was no isolated incident but an orchestrated move that bespeaks the failure to create a common sense of Bosnian identity and the attachment of a majority of Serbs to the Serbian character of Republika Srpska. Indeed, local newspapers revealed that secondary-school classrooms had been emptied on the afternoon of 7 May.1 In its official statement on the event, the RS government blamed leaders of the Islamic Community for their haste in rebuilding the mosque and for not acting ‘in accordance with the normal order of works required for a foreign investor who wishes to respect the law in such cases’ (emphasis mine).
