Shooting, threatening graffiti, desecration in Serb village

Shooting, threatening graffiti, desecration in Serb village

These included the desecration of a memorial for the children gunned down at the Bistrica River in 2003 and for the victims of the NATO bombing in 1999, as well as the shooting at a car owned by Ivan Kolasinac.

The threatening graffiti was the third incident in Gorazdevac in the last 48 hours.

Minister for Communities and Return in the Kosovo government Dalibor Jevtic said he was concerned over the situation in the enclave, and added that he learned from the locals that the KFOR commander and the Pec mayor have visited Gorazdevac.

Jevtic then explained that "the goal of the visit was an infrastructural project" - but that they nevertheless "spoke with the locals also about the latest incidents," adding:

"The visit of the mayor of Pec and the support he gave to the inhabitants of Gorazdevac is a very strong and positive signal that living together in a multi-ethnic environment is possible, and that we all should strive toward it."

According to Jevtic, the mayor "promised assistance through projects implemented by the state with the goal of stabilizing communities so that such incidents aren't repeated, and especially important is the initiative to install video surveillance in the village."

Earlier in the day on Friday, Tanjug reported that the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Paraskeva built in the 16th century in the returnee village of Drsnik near Klina was broken into, robbed and desecrated.

This was the second such incident in the last 48 hours, the Diocese of Raska-Prizren said on Friday, and noted that early the same day unidentified persons opened fire on a vehicle with Belgrade's plates in the area of the Gorazdevac village.

Aside from these incidents, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the monument to the Serb victims of the war and children killed at the Bistrica River, the statement adds.

"The Kosovo police investigated the scenes. However, it is not only that the surge of violence against Serbs in this area is stopped, but the ones who report the attacks and thefts are treated as culprits, and they are facing police threats to admit that they have done something they did not," the statement reads.

According to Tanjug, Minister Dalibor Jevtic has on a number of occasions pointed to the terror and thefts that target the most impoverished Serbs, who often live isolated and surrounded by majority Albanian population.

The presence of the Kosovo police in northern Kosovo has been stepped up, particularly in the multiethnic settlements, Zeljko Bojic, head of the Operative Regional Department of the Kosovo Police Service, told the agency.