More violence against Serbs in Kosovo on St. Vitus Day

John Robles
29/6/2012

June 28th was a very important day for the Serbian people and for Serbian Orthodox Christians.

On the 28th of June, according to the Gregorian Calendar, Orthodox Serbs celebrate Vidovdan or St. Vitus Day or the Feast of St. Vitus as it is also known, but the day is also very important for other reasons.

The date is also associated with the epic Battle of Kosovo when Serbian martyrs gave their lives to defend Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire on June 28, 1389 and the Serbian Orthodox Church has named it a Memorial Day for St. Prince Lazar who led the Serbs against the massive invading army of the Ottoman Empire and perished. During the battle the Ottoman leader Sultan Murad I was killed by the mythological Serbian knight Miloš Obilić.

So as you see the day is very important for the Serbian people. Historically the day has also seen many significant events take place. For example it is not a coincidence that on June 28, 1914 the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated triggering World War I. Another important event on this day was the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which ended the same war.

On June 28, 1921 Serbian King Alexander I introduced what was called the Vidovdan Constitution, for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

On June 28, 2012 Serbs traveling to and from the site of the Battle of Kosovo and attempting to celebrate the proud day in their history were attacked, persecuted and forced to tolerate disgraceful and degrading treatment at the hands, according to witness reports, Albanian police, thugs, and vicious hooligans under the watchful eye of KFOR.

KFOR and EULEX for their part have apparently made rare statements condemning the attacks but any activity from their side to bring those responsible to justice has yet to be seen.

There are conflicting reports and it is hard to get an accurate picture of the event because of the continuing media blackout and obfuscating by the western press but the events apparently included the following: At approximately 04:20 in the morning a multi-ethnic police checkpoint in a village in the municipality of Bujanovac Dobrosin came under heavy automatic weapons fire from the territory of Kosovo and one policeman was injured by a high-velocity rifle round.

On the approach to Gazimestan members of special units of the Kosovo Police set up checkpoints and subjected the Serbs who were on their way to the celebrations to degrading and treatment. Serbs wearing t-shirt with words such as “Kosovo is Serbia” and anything with Cyrillic writing on it was seized and not given back. There were some reports that Serbian flags were also being seized and that women were made to remove their t-shirts too.

A radio and TV journalist from Serbia Sinisa Mihajlovic said that the Kosovo police forcibly removed her shirt and a reporter with the Voice of Serbia, Goran Maunaga, also was forced to remove his shirt. Mihaijlovic was quoted in the press as saying they were told that they could only stay in Gazimestan until 14.00 hours. Most of those wishing to enter Gazimestan were turned away nonetheless.

Other shirts that were seized had inscriptions which read “Banja Luka – Serbian Republic” and “Brothers, we are with you.” According to Mihajlovic, the explanation from the Kosovo and Metohija police was that wearing t-shirts printed in Cyrillic, showing arms or any word that is associated with Serbia is forbidden by law.

One of the worst incidents of the day came at around 08:00 am when a group of fans of the Partisan Belgrade Football Club, which had organized celebrations on St. Vitus day, were stopped by Kosovo police at Merdare and beaten and attacked. 20 people were injured with 10 being listed in serious condition. There are reports that police opened fire on the youths, seriously injuring at least one when they tried to run for safety after the bus they were in was attacked by an Albanian mob.

By far the most disturbing was an attack by Albanian mobs and Kosovo police on two buses carrying approximately 70 Serbs, youth aged 8 to 16 who were travelling to Gazimestan, and near Pristina were turned back by police, according to media reports. Some reports said that the police then escorted the buses to a point where they stopped and were ambushed by an Albanian mob which through concrete block at the buses to break the windows and then threw Molotov cocktails at the buses in an apparent attempt to burn the children inside alive. The subsequent clashes reportedly left 50 people injured.

The attack by Muslim Albanian fanatics came on one of the holiest Serbian national and religious, orthodox Christian holidays, which marks anniversary of 28 June 1389 “Battle of Kosovo”,

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, Bishop Teodosije, condemned the attacks and a number of other savage Albanian attacks on the Serbian Christian minority and as Mirodrag Nivakovic, a Serbian reporter, put it, all “under the idle watch of the so-called “stabilizing” KFOR force, and the European “mission of law” Eulex police.

The opinions and views expressed in this piece are the authors own.

Information from the VOR, Tanjug, Serbian Pravda, Kurir, Nezavisne Novine and private sources used in this report. Numbers and details subject to change as there are conflicting reports and updated information is still coming in.

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