Members of special police forces of Republic of Srpska march during a parade marking the anniversary of Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Aleksandar Cavic
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb leaders commemorated their autonomous republic's national holiday in freezing cold on Monday, defying a Constitutional Court ban and stoking the ethnic tensions that drove Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
Banja Luka, the Serb Republic capital, was festooned with Serb red, blue and white flags and billboards that read "Right to Celebrate". Jan. 9 marks the date in 1992 when Bosnian Serbs declared independence after boycotting a referendum in which Bosniaks (Muslims) and Croats voted to secede from Serbian-led federal Yugoslavia, triggering war in which 100,000 were killed.
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