Kosovo: Eggs, snowballs thrown as Serbs visit Djakovica

Kosovo: Eggs, snowballs thrown as Serbs visit Djakovica

The protesters gathered several dozen meters from the church and waited for three hours, in bad weather and rain, for the Serbs to arrive. They stood in front of a police cordon deployed there.

Last year and the year before, displaced Serbs were unable to visit the church and a monastery in Djakovica on Christmas due to the opposition of local Albanians, as some of them used stones to attack their buses.

According to reports, there were no major incidents today - "other than the eggs, snowballs and apples" that the protesters threw in the direction of the Serbs who were "not in their buses at the time, and were out of the range."

The Kosovo police said later on Wednesday that the protest was organized by the Self-Determination Movement and ended without incidents, and that the Serbs' visit to the town went peacefully.

Tanjug reported earlier on Wednesday there was "strong police presence along the streets leading to the church," and that the protesters at one point shouted, “This is Djakovica - no room for Serbs," along with anti-Serb insults.

A large number of reporters gathered in the town today.

Last year, displaced Serbs visiting their town on Orthodox Christmas Even were attacked by ethnic Albanians who used stones.

Some 12,000 Serbs lived in Djakovica before the war, while there are only four Serb nuns living there now.

President of an association gathering Serbs displaced from Djakovica, Djokica Stanojevic, said that Orthodox Christmas was once respected by everyone, and that Albanians would wish Serbs a happy holiday.

"I am sad, because I have been traveling 800 kilometers to reach my town, my street, only to pass by my house that is 100 meters from here," he told reporters in the church's yard.

He stressed that all those who "made mistakes in the past should be held responsible" but that "it should be known that Serbs, too, are a part of this town," and added that IDPs had filed requests to authorities to return to their town.

The Serb (Srpska) List president, Slavko Simic, also arrived today on the bus that traveled from Decani, and told Tanjug the visit was not meant to provoke anyone or cause incidents, but had the goal of sending "a message of peace."

He said Albanians should not protest but welcome their fellow Djakovica-residents "cordially" and in that way show they want the town to once again be multi-ethnic.