Exiled Kosovo Serbs to stage mass protest

Exiled Kosovo Serbs to stage mass protest

The IDPs that B92 journalists spoke to expressed their willingness to leave for the border on Thursday and Friday, at the same time expressing doubt their action would make any difference.

Close to Belgrade’s river resort of Ada Ciganlija, 31 Serb families exiled from Kosovo found refuge in a wooden barracks settlement. 139 people, 75 children among them, arrived there eight years ago from Istok, Peć and Klina, and live in fear they may be evicted.  

Nenad Ašanin, the camp’s coordinator, says he is ready to lead its residents to the protest at the administrative border.

“We’ll try once again, since the Security Council mission is arriving, to tell the truth about us,” Ašanin said.

Organizers expect some 12,000 people to gather at Jarinja and Rudnice crossings. They have asked the sick not to come, and will provide tents for women and children.

The murdered and kidnapped Kosovo Serbs' families will stage a protest in front of the government building in Belgrade Thursday.

Ruecker: Feel free to come

UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker said in Prištima he is aware that the exiled Kosovo Serbs plan to gather in peaceful protest on the Serbia proper side of the administrative border.

Ruecker said Serbs were “free to come to Kosovo”.

The protest’s organizers said earlier their goal was not to cross over into Kosovo, since they had no homes to return to, with their property destroyed, and their safety not guaranteed by any institution.