Two Orthodox churches in Prizren robbed

Stealing from a church is unacceptable in any civilized society and should be condemned.

Stop making excuses!

Villege-bey,

but ar eall churches and moansteries in the rest of the world under "apparent" watch and guard of NATO who supposedly are their to protect or are they their to faciliate this ethnic attack against the non-Albanian minority?

More over if this was not ethnic based attacks one wonders why then only Serbian chirches have had their roofs stolen - surely many tens of Mosques would be pillaged on a daily basis if it was not an ethnic attack?

Dear B92, when a journalist uses a background for one story, he should stick to the similarities of the story. Burning and stealing its not the same thing.
(XHEFFO, 28. October 2007 13:38)


Don't make us laugh...

Village-bey, Joe, and other seeming apologists.

These things do happen in places outside Kosovo, but we have been constantly hearing from Albanians and their sympathizers on this site how this stuff doesn't happen, or when it does happen it's blown out of proportion by the Serbian media, or done by Serbs, or whatever. Furthermore, other countries don't have churches being guarded around the clock from acts of vandalism like this, or worse. Finally, the Church of the Mother of God at Ljevis in Prizren is supposed to be a UNESCO protected heritage site, and dates to the 13th century. If you're going to try to downplay an event, please have the respect to realize that these acts are indeed painful for those of us who are of this faith and have felt helpless over the last 8 years in stopping such acts.

"During the March 2004 riots by ethnic Albanians, nearly all Orthodox churches in Prizren were burnt, while their reconstruction is still ongoing".

Dear B92, when a journalist uses a background for one story, he should stick to the similarities of the story. Burning and stealing its not the same thing.

village-bey,

Your comment is to the point, very correct. Thinks like this happen in France, Hungary and in many countries. In Hungary this year copper gutters were stolen countrywide from houses and churches by petty criminals "to make a living".
It looks to me that in this case the RTS wanted to point the finger at the K-Albanians in the absence of more important news.

Mike,
Few or considerbale amount of metal sheets stolen and it reached this site as well as it was reported on most daily newspapers in Kosova. But solving of 8 burglaries in villages of Ciga and Brestovika(all houses belonging to serbs)never made it on thi site. I wonder why, ops I know why becasue the burglar was a serb.

To have the crime minimized to a "few sheets of metal" is not only an insult - it's unforgivable.

Shameful as this act might be I fail to notice how can this robbery be newsworthy and grab the spotlight of headline news. Even in developed countries church roofs are frequent targets of theft and robbery but hardly make it in on local news. These acts take place is due to the simple fact that most churches are an easy pray for petty criminals and because the price of lead and copper has soared recently.
Surely there is more crime in Serbia and Kosova to report than the disappearance of a few lead plates.

This is a robbery case, not news, just crime. Things like this happen daily. My house was robbed twice in the last year. I expect the next "news" to be: "Heavy rain today over one of the orthodox churches in Kosovo - a TV team is on the site investigating" ????

Hilarious how Albanians are trying to downplay this as a small crime just because it makes them look bad.

Well we Serbs know nothing of such things why no one ever tries to make us look bad. I guess the whole Kosovo war was just the Serbian government putting down armed separatist threats in a manner that any other country would rightfully so. There was no genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo up until NATO's arrival, it was really far from newsworthy if you ask me.

double standards....pathetic honestly.

Kosovo Police and Protection Corps have offered their protection services to the Orthodox church - they have always denied them.

This seems to be nothing more than an act of petty theft. Understandable, considering that nobody lives in them. Mosques and other Muslim objects get robbed too.

I agree with village-bey, this is obvious and convenient "spotlighting".

It falls under freedom of press and freedom of speech, but at the same time, it looks negatively presented...and people will read it from different angles, as they always do.

Some will praise the news agency for making a case out of it, some will view it as "trying to hard to antagonize the Albanians".

I appeareciate the fact that they don't use even more flaming language like the guys over at Serbianna, where at the end of each Kosovo article they go like: "Kosovo is made up for 90% Albanians, the majority of which is MUSLIM!"...

I'm sure their headline for this same story would be like: "Grand theft, robbery and heist of Orthodox Churches in Muslim Kosovo!"

Stealing from a church is unacceptable in any civilized society and should be condemned.

Stop making excuses!
(Roger7, 28. October 2007 16:46)

I completely agree with this statement. I also agree with Funcakes, but if you look closely B92 has been posting much more negative events in Serbia than Kosova; it has shifted.

So don't worry, if someone is trying to talk about how Kosova is being ruled lawlessly or w/e, I can pull right now 3 to 4 articles about Serbian crimes.

What a primitive act!!!And yet they have understending for it and try to justify. Splendidly!!

ok, so, when will the Serbian govt. pay for the damages their JNA committed against all Mosgues and Catholic Churches in Kosova, Croatia, Bosnia? Well? Crime is a crime and time for the culprit to pay up.

Village-bey,

I have always regarded your comments as both mature and rational, and I'm not about to change my opinions now. In fact, my gripe is not with you, but with a general attitude that is projected whenever something done "to us" is perpetrated by "the other", regardless of Serb or Albanian.

Case in point: racist attacks against minorities in Vojvodina or Serbia Proper are met with general derision by Albanians and others as a sign of the "true Serbian character" on this site. Yet even though the crime here is stealing roof plating (rather than the more despicable church descecration), it is both dowplayed with the "well, this happens everywhere" or simply ignored by the very people who are self-proclaimed morality police when the matter suits them. Ahmet, I'm sorry to single you out, but you're a perfect example of this in that you'll go to no ends to all but ignore attacks against Serb families and properties in Kosovo over the past 8 years and make every excuse in the book when you can't avoid a subject such as March 2004. These are your opinions, but very few people outside the Albanian camp are buying them.

The point I'm trying to make, and I would have remained relatively silent about this issue had not a number of previously ill-judged comments galvanized me to respond, is that we can either play the "it happens everywhere" card and apply that to when something bad happens against our own people as well, or we collectively condemn all acts of violence, racism, and discrimination regardless of ethnicity or religion. We can't be moral police when it suits us, and apologists when it doesn't. By that logic, the next time a mosque is vandalized in Nis or Belgrade, or a racial slur is thrown at a Hungarian in Vojvodina, or an Albnaian is harassed in Presevo, we have every right, by the logic of some people here, not to condemn it, but pass it off as something that happens everywhere, as well as question the validity of B92 bringing it up as news. If this event in Prizren were an isolated incident, I might be inclined to pass it off as an overblown event, but too much has happened and too much has been ignored since 1999 to make me think this doesn't deserve coverage. I'm glad you understand Village-bey, and I would be just as angry if a mosque or other monument were targeted.

Mike, Roger 7, I am sorry that you feel that we have downplayed this incident. If you are in any doubt we unequivocally condemn any desecration acts towards any cult objects, especially Serb churches.
I understand the how much of a emotive issue this might be for many but in my opinion this incident is only a roof theft, not newsworthy, and cannot be interpreted otherwise.

Princip
I do not doubt for a second that Serbian churches have been the target of vandalism in the past.
My point is that there is a need to differentiate between cases and in this incident none but a few can see beyond the act of theft. in any other corner of the world this kind of news would have been object of ridicule. Only because is Prizren me and you are having a debate over a few lead tiles.
A thief is not motivated by politics but by profit as it apparent here. If other intentions did exist they would have been manifested by different kind of actions I guess. That’s all.
We need to stop painting criminality with convenient political colours of the day.
Thank you

To steal a loaf of bread in a bakery, is trivial.. To steal the last loaf of bread from a starving family is news! The killing of a single animal is trivial, but if it is the last animal of its species, it is NEWS!!! This story means nothing to those who are not enlightened to the history and current circumstances of Kosovo. Please take a few minutes of your time to See what is on the internet about the world you live in, and enlighten yourself. Oh, and yes, this IS a newsworthy story about Kosovo...

village-bey,

Your comment is to the point, very correct. Thinks like this happen in France, Hungary and in many countries. In Hungary this year copper gutters were stolen countrywide from houses and churches by petty criminals "to make a living".
It looks to me that in this case the RTS wanted to point the finger at the K-Albanians in the absence of more important news.

"During the March 2004 riots by ethnic Albanians, nearly all Orthodox churches in Prizren were burnt, while their reconstruction is still ongoing".

Dear B92, when a journalist uses a background for one story, he should stick to the similarities of the story. Burning and stealing its not the same thing.

Shameful as this act might be I fail to notice how can this robbery be newsworthy and grab the spotlight of headline news. Even in developed countries church roofs are frequent targets of theft and robbery but hardly make it in on local news. These acts take place is due to the simple fact that most churches are an easy pray for petty criminals and because the price of lead and copper has soared recently.
Surely there is more crime in Serbia and Kosova to report than the disappearance of a few lead plates.

I agree with village-bey, this is obvious and convenient "spotlighting".

It falls under freedom of press and freedom of speech, but at the same time, it looks negatively presented...and people will read it from different angles, as they always do.

Some will praise the news agency for making a case out of it, some will view it as "trying to hard to antagonize the Albanians".

I appeareciate the fact that they don't use even more flaming language like the guys over at Serbianna, where at the end of each Kosovo article they go like: "Kosovo is made up for 90% Albanians, the majority of which is MUSLIM!"...

I'm sure their headline for this same story would be like: "Grand theft, robbery and heist of Orthodox Churches in Muslim Kosovo!"

This is a robbery case, not news, just crime. Things like this happen daily. My house was robbed twice in the last year. I expect the next "news" to be: "Heavy rain today over one of the orthodox churches in Kosovo - a TV team is on the site investigating" ????

Princip
I do not doubt for a second that Serbian churches have been the target of vandalism in the past.
My point is that there is a need to differentiate between cases and in this incident none but a few can see beyond the act of theft. in any other corner of the world this kind of news would have been object of ridicule. Only because is Prizren me and you are having a debate over a few lead tiles.
A thief is not motivated by politics but by profit as it apparent here. If other intentions did exist they would have been manifested by different kind of actions I guess. That’s all.
We need to stop painting criminality with convenient political colours of the day.
Thank you

Mike,
Few or considerbale amount of metal sheets stolen and it reached this site as well as it was reported on most daily newspapers in Kosova. But solving of 8 burglaries in villages of Ciga and Brestovika(all houses belonging to serbs)never made it on thi site. I wonder why, ops I know why becasue the burglar was a serb.

Dear B92, when a journalist uses a background for one story, he should stick to the similarities of the story. Burning and stealing its not the same thing.
(XHEFFO, 28. October 2007 13:38)


Don't make us laugh...

Kosovo Police and Protection Corps have offered their protection services to the Orthodox church - they have always denied them.

This seems to be nothing more than an act of petty theft. Understandable, considering that nobody lives in them. Mosques and other Muslim objects get robbed too.

Mike, Roger 7, I am sorry that you feel that we have downplayed this incident. If you are in any doubt we unequivocally condemn any desecration acts towards any cult objects, especially Serb churches.
I understand the how much of a emotive issue this might be for many but in my opinion this incident is only a roof theft, not newsworthy, and cannot be interpreted otherwise.

Stealing from a church is unacceptable in any civilized society and should be condemned.

Stop making excuses!
(Roger7, 28. October 2007 16:46)

I completely agree with this statement. I also agree with Funcakes, but if you look closely B92 has been posting much more negative events in Serbia than Kosova; it has shifted.

So don't worry, if someone is trying to talk about how Kosova is being ruled lawlessly or w/e, I can pull right now 3 to 4 articles about Serbian crimes.

What a primitive act!!!And yet they have understending for it and try to justify. Splendidly!!

Stealing from a church is unacceptable in any civilized society and should be condemned.

Stop making excuses!

Village-bey, Joe, and other seeming apologists.

These things do happen in places outside Kosovo, but we have been constantly hearing from Albanians and their sympathizers on this site how this stuff doesn't happen, or when it does happen it's blown out of proportion by the Serbian media, or done by Serbs, or whatever. Furthermore, other countries don't have churches being guarded around the clock from acts of vandalism like this, or worse. Finally, the Church of the Mother of God at Ljevis in Prizren is supposed to be a UNESCO protected heritage site, and dates to the 13th century. If you're going to try to downplay an event, please have the respect to realize that these acts are indeed painful for those of us who are of this faith and have felt helpless over the last 8 years in stopping such acts.

ok, so, when will the Serbian govt. pay for the damages their JNA committed against all Mosgues and Catholic Churches in Kosova, Croatia, Bosnia? Well? Crime is a crime and time for the culprit to pay up.

Villege-bey,

but ar eall churches and moansteries in the rest of the world under "apparent" watch and guard of NATO who supposedly are their to protect or are they their to faciliate this ethnic attack against the non-Albanian minority?

More over if this was not ethnic based attacks one wonders why then only Serbian chirches have had their roofs stolen - surely many tens of Mosques would be pillaged on a daily basis if it was not an ethnic attack?

Hilarious how Albanians are trying to downplay this as a small crime just because it makes them look bad.

Well we Serbs know nothing of such things why no one ever tries to make us look bad. I guess the whole Kosovo war was just the Serbian government putting down armed separatist threats in a manner that any other country would rightfully so. There was no genocide or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo up until NATO's arrival, it was really far from newsworthy if you ask me.

double standards....pathetic honestly.

To have the crime minimized to a "few sheets of metal" is not only an insult - it's unforgivable.

Village-bey,

I have always regarded your comments as both mature and rational, and I'm not about to change my opinions now. In fact, my gripe is not with you, but with a general attitude that is projected whenever something done "to us" is perpetrated by "the other", regardless of Serb or Albanian.

Case in point: racist attacks against minorities in Vojvodina or Serbia Proper are met with general derision by Albanians and others as a sign of the "true Serbian character" on this site. Yet even though the crime here is stealing roof plating (rather than the more despicable church descecration), it is both dowplayed with the "well, this happens everywhere" or simply ignored by the very people who are self-proclaimed morality police when the matter suits them. Ahmet, I'm sorry to single you out, but you're a perfect example of this in that you'll go to no ends to all but ignore attacks against Serb families and properties in Kosovo over the past 8 years and make every excuse in the book when you can't avoid a subject such as March 2004. These are your opinions, but very few people outside the Albanian camp are buying them.

The point I'm trying to make, and I would have remained relatively silent about this issue had not a number of previously ill-judged comments galvanized me to respond, is that we can either play the "it happens everywhere" card and apply that to when something bad happens against our own people as well, or we collectively condemn all acts of violence, racism, and discrimination regardless of ethnicity or religion. We can't be moral police when it suits us, and apologists when it doesn't. By that logic, the next time a mosque is vandalized in Nis or Belgrade, or a racial slur is thrown at a Hungarian in Vojvodina, or an Albnaian is harassed in Presevo, we have every right, by the logic of some people here, not to condemn it, but pass it off as something that happens everywhere, as well as question the validity of B92 bringing it up as news. If this event in Prizren were an isolated incident, I might be inclined to pass it off as an overblown event, but too much has happened and too much has been ignored since 1999 to make me think this doesn't deserve coverage. I'm glad you understand Village-bey, and I would be just as angry if a mosque or other monument were targeted.

To steal a loaf of bread in a bakery, is trivial.. To steal the last loaf of bread from a starving family is news! The killing of a single animal is trivial, but if it is the last animal of its species, it is NEWS!!! This story means nothing to those who are not enlightened to the history and current circumstances of Kosovo. Please take a few minutes of your time to See what is on the internet about the world you live in, and enlighten yourself. Oh, and yes, this IS a newsworthy story about Kosovo...