Bosnians have swept up the rubble after protesters set fire to the presidency and other government buildings in the country's worst social unrest since its devastating war.
But the next steps in attempts to clean up are far from clear.
A few hundred people continued to protest peacefully in the capital, Sarajevo, and other cities on Saturday, angry about the nation's almost 40 per cent unemployment rate and rampant corruption.
Local governments in four cities, including Sarajevo, resigned amid the unrest, one mayor fled the country and politicians appeared on TV acknowledging mistakes and promising to change before general elections in October. But ordinary Bosnians have many reasons to be sceptical.
The privatisation that followed the 1992-95 war decimated the middle class and sent the working class into poverty as a few tycoons flourished. Corruption is widespread and high taxes for the country's bloated public sector eat away at residents' paychecks.
"This was a long accumulated dissatisfaction," acknowledged Bosnia's Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija. "The kids who did this were born in a post-war society and watched their parents being ripped off by tycoons in criminal privatisation. They grew up with no hope for a bright future, watching poverty and injustice."
The violence started early this week in the northern city of Tuzla, a former industrial centre, where thousands of factory workers vented their fury over the dubious privatisation that left them without jobs. Images of police beating and arresting members of the crowd prompted protests in over 20 cities.
Some 200 policemen and 100 protesters were injured in Friday's clashes as protesters smashed government buildings, cars and streetlights. Almost 100 people were detained, many of them teenagers. Protesters also set upon local government buildings in Zenica, Mostar and Travnik.
Friday's protests occurred almost exclusively in the Bosniak-Croat Federation, where salaries and pensions are higher.
