Serbs prevented from reaching memorial

Members of the Kosovo police, KPS, prevented a group of some 80 Serbs from traveling to Velika Hoca last night. They were traveling in a bus, a van and three cars, and intended to attend a ceremony of unveiling of a memorial dedicated to the kidnapped and murdered Serbs in the Orahovac municipality. Serbs prevented from reaching memorial The ceremony coincided with a major Serbian Orthodox Church holiday. KiM Radio Reports that KPS blocked their way at the entrance to the town of Srbica, and told them that they could not proceed. Veljko Odalovic, of the government's Commission for the Missing Persons, who was traveling with the group, told the radio that the police "was checking their IDs for over three hours", to finally tell them to return to the crossing of Merdare, at the administrative line between central Serbia and the province. "We went through the administrative crossing of Jarinje without problems. They checked us for three hours and in the end told us that we could not continue with our trip because such order came from the government of Kosovo," Odalovic said. He noted that all the vehicle registrations and passenger IDs were in order. In Belgrade, the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija on Friday qualified as unacceptable the fact that the authorities in Pristina had refused to provide escort for the Serbs on their way to Velika Hoca. "Such an unreasonable decision is deeply insulting, it proves how little respect the temporary Kosovo institutions have for the relatives of the murdered and kidnapped persons, and it also tells us all about their attitude toward the non-Albanian victims of the clashes in Kosovo and Metohija," said Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic underlined that such an attitude reflected in the best possible way the manner in which Kosovo temporary authorities treated the Serb community and what their idea of a multiethnic society was. “The issue of kidnapped and missing persons is equally painful for the members of all ethnic communities in Kosovo and Metohija, and such unreasonable acts by the temporary authority do not contribute to the pacification of the situation and reconciliation, but rather ratchet up the tensions and clashes there," the minister underlined. Bogdanovic pointed out that the international civilian missions in Kosovo "were not to let Pristina play its nasty political tricks on the people and make even more miserable the life of those whose loved ones were killed or had gone missing". In Pristina, Kosovo government's spokesman Memli Kranici stated that the decision to send the Serbs on their way to Orahovac on Thursday night came because their request for police escort "did not arrive in time". Krasnici said that the request should have been sent 78 hours before their arrival, and that those citizens could have entered Kosovo as private persons, "but not with police escort because the request came too late". Meanwhile, a spokesman for the KPS confirmed that the Serbs were prevented from arriving to their destination on the orders that arrived from Pristina. "Police only respected the government's decision, in fact that of the Kosovo interior ministry, which prohibited entrance to 75 persons due to a violation of procedures related to their visit to Kosovo," said Besim Hoti.

Serbs prevented from reaching memorial

The ceremony coincided with a major Serbian Orthodox Church holiday.

KiM Radio Reports that KPS blocked their way at the entrance to the town of Srbica, and told them that they could not proceed.

Veljko Odalović, of the government's Commission for the Missing Persons, who was traveling with the group, told the radio that the police "was checking their IDs for over three hours", to finally tell them to return to the crossing of Merdare, at the administrative line between central Serbia and the province.

"We went through the administrative crossing of Jarinje without problems. They checked us for three hours and in the end told us that we could not continue with our trip because such order came from the government of Kosovo," Odalović said.

He noted that all the vehicle registrations and passenger IDs were in order.

In Belgrade, the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija on Friday qualified as unacceptable the fact that the authorities in Priština had refused to provide escort for the Serbs on their way to Velika Hoča.

"Such an unreasonable decision is deeply insulting, it proves how little respect the temporary Kosovo institutions have for the relatives of the murdered and kidnapped persons, and it also tells us all about their attitude toward the non-Albanian victims of the clashes in Kosovo and Metohija," said Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanović.

Bogdanović underlined that such an attitude reflected in the best possible way the manner in which Kosovo temporary authorities treated the Serb community and what their idea of a multiethnic society was.

“The issue of kidnapped and missing persons is equally painful for the members of all ethnic communities in Kosovo and Metohija, and such unreasonable acts by the temporary authority do not contribute to the pacification of the situation and reconciliation, but rather ratchet up the tensions and clashes there," the minister underlined.

Bogdanović pointed out that the international civilian missions in Kosovo "were not to let Priština play its nasty political tricks on the people and make even more miserable the life of those whose loved ones were killed or had gone missing".

In Priština, Kosovo government's spokesman Memli Kranici stated that the decision to send the Serbs on their way to Orahovac on Thursday night came because their request for police escort "did not arrive in time".

Krasnici said that the request should have been sent 78 hours before their arrival, and that those citizens could have entered Kosovo as private persons, "but not with police escort because the request came too late".

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the KPS confirmed that the Serbs were prevented from arriving to their destination on the orders that arrived from Priština.

"Police only respected the government's decision, in fact that of the Kosovo interior ministry, which prohibited entrance to 75 persons due to a violation of procedures related to their visit to Kosovo," said Besim Hoti.