S-FOR troops on patrol

S-FOR Thwarts Riot Attempt

But buses loaded with people allegedly intent on causing trouble are still heading for Banja Luka after S-FOR soldiers stopped a large number of other buses getting there.

Reports say that about a thousand people attended the event in the centre of Banja Luka and afterwards dispersed without any trouble.

However, this was only after S-FOR and Bosnian Serb police stopped large numbers of buses getting to Banja Luka, carrying demonstrators intent on causing problems.

Banja Luka is the power base of the Bosnian Serb president, Biljana Plavsic, and the men on the buses were supporters of Pale-based allies of Radovan Karadzic.

S-FOR said passengers on coaches they stopped behaved aggressively, and there were reports individuals were paid two-hundred deutschmarks each to go to Banja Luka and stage a protest.

Thirty buses were stopped near Derventa and some passengers threw gas at S-FOR vehicles. British S-FOR troops told the BBC that they drove heavy artillery units onto the road in front of the buses. By driving ahead of the busses, but gradually slowing to a halt they stopped the convoy. Another twenty-five buses were stopped by S-FOR at Modrica.

S-FOR sources said seventeen buses that were still headed towards Banja Luka will be stopped by civilian police at a location north of the town.