Police union calls on PM to remove controversial memorial

BELGRADE The trade union of the Serbian police on Tuesday demanded from Ivica Dacic to inform them when a controversial Presevo memorial would be removed. In a statement signed by the union's leader, Gliso Vidovic, the prime minister - who also serves as interior minister - was reminded that he last month "promised that all monuments to the terrorist OVPMB would be removed from the territory of Serbia". Police union calls on PM to remove controversial memorial The now disbanded ethnic Albanian "Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja (OVPMB, UCPMB)" was an offshoot of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, UCK), that was active in southern Serbia in the early 2000s. "A month later, there have been no results, except a media report about a group of young men being placed under arrest when they headed for Presevo in order to demolish the memorial," said the statement. The union further said that those employed by the Serbian police and Interior Ministry (MUP) were expressing their great dissatisfaction over the fact that the state was doing nothing to remove the memorial to the killed terrorists, while at the same time failing to honor with a monument its own "dead heroes" who fell in the defense of the country. "We are condemning in the strongest terms the placement of the memorial for the members of the terrorist OVPMB in downtown Presevo, and are demanding that you, as prime minister and interior minister, and the government, show unity on this issue. We are demanding that you, Mr. Dacic, should finally live up to your word which you gave in front of all of Serbia," the statement continued. The police union stressed that it was impermissible to build monuments and glorify the deeds of people who were shooting at and killing citizens and police officers, in their attempt to violently bring down Serbia's constitutional order and secede a part of its territory. "We are wondering if the U.S. would allow their states to raise a monument to Al Qaeda? Would Spain allow a monument to ETA on its territory? Would Italy allow one to the Red Brigades? Would Germany allow monuments to the Red Army Faction? Would England allow the placement of a monument to IRA fighters?," the union's letter reads, and concludes, addressing Dacic: "The innocent victims who gave their lives for their homeland Serbia, the wounded soldiers and police officers who to this day guard the peace in southern Serbia, did not give you the permission to rewrite Serbia's recent history. The police officers expect deeds from you - or for you to, if the state is powerless, take back your word." The memorial in Presevo (Image made from video, file) Beta

Police union calls on PM to remove controversial memorial

The now disbanded ethnic Albanian "Liberation Army of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa (OVPMB, UCPMB)" was an offshoot of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, UCK), that was active in southern Serbia in the early 2000s.

"A month later, there have been no results, except a media report about a group of young men being placed under arrest when they headed for Preševo in order to demolish the memorial," said the statement.

The union further said that those employed by the Serbian police and Interior Ministry (MUP) were expressing their great dissatisfaction over the fact that the state was doing nothing to remove the memorial to the killed terrorists, while at the same time failing to honor with a monument its own "dead heroes" who fell in the defense of the country.

"We are condemning in the strongest terms the placement of the memorial for the members of the terrorist OVPMB in downtown Preševo, and are demanding that you, as prime minister and interior minister, and the government, show unity on this issue. We are demanding that you, Mr. Dačić, should finally live up to your word which you gave in front of all of Serbia," the statement continued.

The police union stressed that it was impermissible to build monuments and glorify the deeds of people who were shooting at and killing citizens and police officers, in their attempt to violently bring down Serbia's constitutional order and secede a part of its territory.

"We are wondering if the U.S. would allow their states to raise a monument to Al Qaeda? Would Spain allow a monument to ETA on its territory? Would Italy allow one to the Red Brigades? Would Germany allow monuments to the Red Army Faction? Would England allow the placement of a monument to IRA fighters?," the union's letter reads, and concludes, addressing Dačić:

"The innocent victims who gave their lives for their homeland Serbia, the wounded soldiers and police officers who to this day guard the peace in southern Serbia, did not give you the permission to rewrite Serbia's recent history. The police officers expect deeds from you - or for you to, if the state is powerless, take back your word."