More than 2,400 participants took part on Thursday in celebrating the disputed Day of Republika Srpska, ignoring condemnation from Bosniak leaders and a ban imposed by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Despite the court ruling that the holiday was unconstitutional, and fierce criticism by Bosniaks and part of the international community, authorities in Bosnia’s mainly Serb entity went ahead with festivities and an awards ceremony.

More than 2,400 police officers, prison guards, firefighters, civil protection force members and Russian bikers from the pro-Kremlin Russian motorcycle club, the Night Wolves, paraded through the streets of Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Republika Srpska, festooned with thousands of Serbian red-blue-and-white flags and billboards proclaiming: “For all times.”

The decorations have been in place for weeks, overshadowing those put up for New Year’s Eve.