• 'Line of blood': 11,541 red chairs symbolize the victims of the siege of Sarajevo

    Amel Emric / AP

    Red chairs are displayed along a main street in Sarajevo as the city marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Bosnian war on April 6, 2012.

    Reuters reports from Sarajevo — With a line of 11,541 red chairs, one for each victim of the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia on Friday remembered when war broke out 20 years ago and the West dithered in the face of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War Two.

    The anniversary finds the Balkan country still deeply divided, power shared between Serbs, Croats and Muslims in a single state ruled by ethnic quotas and united by the weakest of central governments.

    Amel Emric / AP

    City officials have lined up 11,541 red chairs arranged in 825 rows along the main street that now looks like a red river representing the 11,541 Sarajevans who were killed during the siege.

    "The Sarajevo Red Line is in fact the line of blood that ran down the streets of Sarajevo from April 6, 1992 until 1995," Sarajevo mayor Alija Behmen said of the long line of chairs through the center of the capital.

    On Thursday, cellist Vedran Smailovic, who became an icon of artistic defiance when he played on a central Sarajevo street as the city was shelled, played again for the first time in his hometown since he left in 1993. Read the full story.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    Cellist Vedran Smajlovic addresses the auditorium before playing at one of the ceremonies being held to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of the siege of Sarajevo, on April 5, 2012.

    Amel Emric / AP

     

  • Gunman opens fire outside U.S. embassy in Sarajevo

    Amel Emric / AP

    An unidentified gunman stands in the center of the street in Sarajevo, Bosnia on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 at a street in front of the U.S. embassy. An unidentified man shot several rounds at pedestrians in downtown Sarajevo on Friday and injured at least one officer before police special forces took him down. For at least 30 minutes the man stood at a street in front of the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo and shot around from an automatic rifle.

    Amel Emric / AP

    An unidentified gunman stands in the center of the street in Sarajevo, Bosnia on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 at a street in front of the U.S. embassy. An unidentified man shot several rounds at pedestrians in downtown Sarajevo on Friday and injured at least one officer before police special forces took him down.

    By Natalia Jimenez, NBC News

    I'm surprised with the number of onlookers at the scene where a gunman with a rifle was firing shots outside the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia. AP photographer Amel Emric was very close to the scene, providing clear images of the gunman. One police officer was injured before the man was shot and arrested.

    For more information: Gunman opens fire near U.S. embassy in Sarajevo

    Amel Emric / AP

    Bosnian police unit deploy to the spot after an unidentified gunman (unseen, behind white van at right) was shot down on a street across from the US embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia on Friday, Oct. 28. After the man started shooting at the embassy, all traffic was blocked and heavily armed special police deployed.

    Danilo Krstanovic / Reuters

    A gunman with an automatic weapon, lies on a street after being overwhelmed after he fired shots at the U.S. embassy, in Sarajevo on Oct. 28. The gunman opened fire at the United States embassy in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Friday and police rushed to the scene.