‘You are not allowed to sit here’

The respondent was a 25-year-old Turkish man. On the 28th of June, 2025, at around 1-2 pm, the respondent was sitting with two other Turkish men, 27 and 32 years old, in a park in Bihać. Their precise location was 44.8146744, 15.8723966.

They were sitting on the grass and having some snacks when two men approached them. He described the men as police officers wearing dark blue, and recognised their uniforms from the Bosnian police officers he had seen in the Blažuj camp in Sarajevo. One had a badge on their shoulder (described by the respondent as being ‘the boss’), and the other had a badge on their chest.

In broken English, the policemen asked the group what they were doing there, and they told them they were just relaxing. The respondent explained that during every police interaction he has had with police in the streets in Bosnia, they would always ask him where he slept the night before. In this instance, he told them the name of the hotel he had slept in and showed them the location on his maps. According to the respondent, the police also asked to see the IDs of each of the men, and the respondent handed his Turkish passport.

The respondent explained that:

‘When he [the officer] looked at my ID, he told us to go away’

The officer reportedly said:

‘You are not allowed to sit here’

 The other officer backed him up, stating:

‘He's the boss, do whatever he says’

The respondent then tried to explain to them that he is legally in Bosnia as a tourist. He explained:

‘I have a passport, I have everything [...] I’m a tourist in this country. I didn’t do anything bad’

Nonetheless, one of the officers lifted his hand and threatened to slap him. According to the respondent, he had said to the police:

‘You can slap me, but I did nothing wrong. You are treating us bad, it’s not legal’

The respondent felt that the police were being racist towards him. They then reportedly told the men that if they returned to the park, they would be taken to jail.

The Turkish men walked away, and the police would have followed them to make sure they left the park. They tried to stop and wait outside for their friend's wife, who was going to meet them, but the police approached them again. The respondent alleges that the police said:

‘What did I say? Just go’ 

The officer would have then continued to yell at them. The group then walked away.

At one point during this interaction, the Turkish men attempted to record a video of the officers. The respondent explained that they do this in case anything bad happens. However, he said they are scared to film these interactions in case the police break their phones in response.