PRISTINA, Aug 14 (Hina) - Thousands of Serbs protested in Kosovo on Thursday demanding that the international community stop the anti-Serb violence following Wednesday's brutal attack in which two Serb teenagers were killed and six
wounded.
PRISTINA, Aug 14 (Hina) - Thousands of Serbs protested in Kosovo on
Thursday demanding that the international community stop the anti-
Serb violence following Wednesday's brutal attack in which two Serb
teenagers were killed and six wounded. #L#
The largest rally took place in Kosovska Mitrovica where about
3,000 people gathered in protest at the attack that occurred near
the village of Gorazdevac in the west of the UN-administered
province.
The demonstrators demanded that the UN police find and arrest the
assailants who opened fire at young people swimming in the Bistrica
river. They condemned the inactivity of the UN and NATO, which have
been responsible for security in the province since the end of the
Serb-Albanian conflict in 1999.
The protesters carried placards reading "Europe, Open Up Your
Eyes!" and "Serbia, Wake Up!", and compared Albanian extremists to
al-Qaida terrorists and their leader Osama bin Laden.
Milan Ivanovic, leader of the Serb National Council of Northern
Kosovo, called for "Albanian criminals" to be captured and handed
over to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He said that the
Serbs had the right to live in Kosovo, and demanded return of the
Serb military and police to the province.
Residents of Gorazdevac, the last Serb enclave in western Kosovo,
gathered in the centre of the village this morning for a peaceful
protest against the terrorist attack on the swimmers.
It is not yet known when the bodies of 20-year-old Ivan Jovovic and
12-year-old Pantelija Dakic would be brought to the village nor
when they would be buried.
Doctors in Belgrade are fighting for the life of the third teenager,
15-year-old Bogdan Bukumiric, who was seriously wounded. He was
visited today by Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic.
"It's an act of terrorism and not madness. It's a clear message that
the Serbs must be expelled from Kosovo," Zivkovic said.
More than 400 Serbs continued today with the blockade of the Pec-
Kosovska Mitrovica road and other roads. They said they would
continue with the blockade until the attackers were arrested.
Several hundred Serbs gathered in the centre of Gracanica near the
provincial capital Pristina, demanding that the Serbs leave Kosovo
institutions and that the Kosovo Protection Corps (formerly known
as the Kosovo Liberation Army) be disbanded. Organisers called on
the Serbs to organise their own protection.
Since the deployment of the NATO-led peacekeeping force known as
KFOR in 1991, about 200,000 Serbs have left the province owing to
the violence used by Albanian extremists. The number of those who
have stayed is estimated at between 80,000 and 120,000. They mainly
live in KFOR-protected enclaves and have a very limited freedom of
movement.
The UN police and KFOR troops are intensively searching for the
perpetrators of the attack near Gorazdevac, but have not found any
suspects to date.
(hina) vm