Incidents in Serbia and abroad after stadium provocation

Incidents in Serbia and abroad after stadium provocation

The motive for the new attack is not known, but there has been high tension after the football game between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade on Tuesday, when a drone was flown over the pitch with a map of the so-called Greater Albania.

Another Albanian-owned bakery, this time in Stara Pazova, came under attack last night, when an explosive device was thrown at it. Nobody was injured in these incidents.

Yet another bakery, also owned by an Albanian, was stoned in Novi Sad, "causing minimal damage and no injuries," according to the police, who reportedly told workers there they would not file charges, and advised them to file criminal charges themselves.

In Kosovo, Albanians set on fire a Serbian flag displayed in one of the main streets in Kosovska Mitrovica and damaged the city symbols.

The Beta agency reported that overnight they also tried to damage the flags displayed near a bridge in this town, and on the municipal building in a street that leads to the ethnically mixed neighborhood of Suvi Do.

In the town of Zvečan, extremists set ablaze a dumpster and a flag owned by a committee set up to build a Serb Orthodox church, and also removed a flag displayed on a medieval tower near Zvečan.

On Tuesday night, the Parish House of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Orahovac was attacked with a rock.

Incidents were also reported in the region on Wednesday. Police had to intervene in Vienna, Austria, when a group of 50 Albanians attacked Serbs in a restaurant. The police dispersed them, but later had to deal with about 200 Serbs who gathered and tried to break through a cordon.

In a village in the Gjirokaster district, southern Albania, some 100 Albanian nationalists carrying flags and nationalist banners attacked local ethnic Greeks. They demolished cars and stores and were eventually stopped by the police, Greek daily Ekathimerini reported.

Albanian and non-Albanian high school students, their parents and relatives were involved in fight in the town of Tuzi in Montenegro, when four students were lightly injured.

According to RTS, stones were thrown overnight at the Albanian embassy in Podgorica.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama - whose brother the Serbian police suspect was behind the stadium incident - on Wednesday accused the Serbian side and said what happened during the abandoned game was "a show of violence and racism."

"Albania and Albanians will not sink to that level. Albania and Albanians are determined to be a model of inspiration for the future," Rama, who should visit Belgrade next week, said.

Reacting to this, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, who believes the stadium incident was "a planned political provocation," said:

"I am unfamiliar with a Greater Albania being a model for the future of the region."

The map flown above the pitch in Belgrade on Tuesday showed Albania's territory expanded to include that of neighboring countries: Serbia, Greece, Macedonia, and Montenegro.

Albanian Ambassador in Belgrade Ilir Bocka was on Wednesday summoned to the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he received a strong demarche.