Protesters laid flowers and lit candles at the site of the removed monument and said Serbia "is waging terror against Albanians from the south" by removing the monument.
A political declaration in Albanian was read out, asking Pristina to contribute to the protection of Albanians' rights in southern Serbia and demanding the same rights as Serbs in Kosovo.
The Albanians of Presevo demand to be included in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and urge the international community to help solve the problems in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja municipalities by putting pressure on Belgrade to respect Albanians' rights and "act European" in the European Union integration process.
They asked Belgrade to recall its gendarmes from southern Serbia and to remove a monument erected near Lucane last November in tribute to Serbian soldiers and police killed in an armed conflict with the OVPBM.
Belgrade said the security situation in southern Serbia was not jeopardised and that it did "not depend on the removal of one monument."
Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said the removal of the illegally erected monument not only to members of the OVPBM, but of the Kosovo Liberation Army killed in Kosovo, was "an internal matter of Serbia" and that he was told so by foreign ambassadors with whom he had recently met about the Presevo monument.
The monument, erected last November, was removed yesterday without incident. However, according to Serbian media, there were incidents in Kosovo, including the desecration of Serb cemeteries.
Serbian Deputy PM Aleksandar Vucic voiced confidence that Belgrade-Pristina dialogue would not be suspended because of the monument's removal, saying Serbia had done nothing that would escalate conflicts but only wanted Serbian laws to be respected throughout its territory.