Lauren McCauley\u00a0<\/strong> Thousands of Bosnians shut down the center of the capital city Sarajevo Monday in the sixth day of demonstrations, breaking across ethnic barriers to demand the resignation of the elitist leadership.<\/p>\n According<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0New York Times,<\/em>\u00a0the demonstrators chanted slogans against the \u201ccriminals\u201d in government and urged those in authority to \u201cresign today.\u201d<\/p>\n Sparked by a demonstration in the city of Tuzla\u00a0last week<\/a>\u2013where recently laid-off workers rose up against the failed privatization of previously state-owned companies\u2013the protests have spread across Bosnia-Herzegovina in more than 30 cities, thus far forcing the resignation of the leaders of four regional cantons.<\/p>\n On Friday, demonstrators \u2013 which\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0included “unemployed youths, war veterans and disgruntled workers, among others”\u2013 set fire to government buildings in the capital and across the country.<\/p>\n Most remarkable about the uprising, witnesses note, is how it has connected the disparate and frequently-feuding ethnic groups.<\/p>\n “In one of the photos from the protests, we see the demonstrators waving three flags side by side: Bosnian, Serb, Croat,”\u00a0writes<\/a>\u00a0Slavoj \u00c5\u00bdi\u00c5\u00beek, international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London. “[W]e are dealing with a rebellion against nationalist elites: the people of Bosnia have finally understood who their true enemy is: not other ethnic groups, but their own leaders who pretend to protect them from others.”<\/p>\n “I think the biggest fear of our politicians is a united people,” demonstrator Lejla Kusturicatold<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0New York Times.<\/em><\/p>\n
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