date: 01.08.2024.
The parish office of Medjugorje would like to inform all the pilgrims and media workers that during the duration of the program of the 35th Youth Festival in Medjugorje, the use of drones for filming will not be allowed on the church grounds where the Youth Festival program is held, except for the drones of the official photographers and videographers.
The parish office of Medjugorje is kindly warning that all the drones will be removed for the safety of the Youth Festival participants in cooperation with the police.
The Ministry of the Interior of the Herzegovina-Neretva County also announced the following:
"Recently, during the public gatherings of a religious nature in which a large number of citizens - pilgrims - participate, the use of drones has been expressed. In a large number of such cases, for example in Medjugorje, the mass use of drones was noticed.
It happens that in a small area, above the heads of the pilgrims, in addition to the official drone of the Parish of Međugorje, several other drones fly at the same time, which creates an increased risk for the life, health and property of the gathered pilgrims. In a large number of cases, foreigners appear as the owners and users of such drones,'' the police announced, noting that in 2020, a regulation regulating the area of acquisition and use of drones entered into force.
The regulations on the conditions for performing drone flight operations prescribe the conditions for acquiring, registering and managing drones, including other rights and obligations of drone owners and users.
Agencies for the protection of people and property, i.e. internal services for the protection of people and property, which are engaged in the security of public gatherings, in accordance with the Act on Agencies and Internal Services for the Protection of People and Property, are obliged to take all the measures and actions within their competence to prevent threats to security citizens and their property by the unauthorized and irresponsible use of drones, and to report every such case to the competent authorities,'' the police statement reads.
