At the gates Gazimestan metal barriers that direct the order of citizens. Kosovo Police (KP) searches citizens and journalists before entering the marking ceremony Vidovdan. Police officers - the number is unknown: traffic, intervention, special and plainclothes. At least two drones will fly over the gathering. When entering the complex, the police hand out a notice in illiterate Serbian about the rules of conduct and how they will react if those rules are not followed. Among other things, it says that the KP will not allow the wearing and display of symbols on clothing, as well as various flags, banners and similar symbols that "represent and encourage inter-ethnic, religious and political hatred".
At this year's celebration, journalists did not see a single Serbian flag, not even a national flag. Flags with religious symbols were visible. According to customs, a memorial service was held, after which Bishop Hilarion of Novi Brda addressed the crowd: "Nothing can be taken away by force. That's why when someone wants to take something away from us by force, when they want to forbid us to make a vow, when they forbid us to speak, we preserve our dignity and want to exist in a terrible place." Then he added: "Thank you for coming and going, spreading the message of peace. You speak well to everyone, you wish everyone well. And we wish well to our neighbors who live here with us." After that, the crowd sang several patriotic songs and shouted "Kosovo is Serbia".
ARREST LIKE ON A TAPE
At the end of the meeting, KP forms a barrier at the exit. Plainclothes policemen are visibly magnifying something on their phones, and their gaze moves from the phone to the exit. It could be said that they are trying to recognize certain citizens. Then the hunt for those "who broke the rules" began. As soon as the "offender" comes out, the crowd of policemen stirs up and arrests him and takes him to a dirty container. In the background, you can hear the cries of their relatives, girlfriends, sisters, children crying. The others, whom they think were good, are forcefully pushed away by the police through the barricade. Such a situation lasted until the last citizen left through the gate.
The police surrounded the journalists behind the fence with yellow tape, so it was not possible to record in detail or see exactly what was happening in the container on the opposite side of the fence. After a short stay in the container, the arrested were taken away in three ambulances accompanied by several police cars. Until the police officially spoke, it was not possible to know how many were arrested, nor whether there were minors among them. A 12-year-old girl was also taken into custody who, after her mother's reaction, was immediately released. A father accompanied by his approximately five-year-old daughter was also detained. The police then announced that 37 citizens were arrested, while misdemeanor proceedings were initiated against 36. They pleaded not guilty a day later in the Basic Court in Pristina. At the time of writing, the verdicts have not yet been passed. The police issued a statement, which we quote here without any corrections: "These persons provoked provocative calls with elements of incitement to hatred, in violation of legal provisions, and one person was fined for disturbing public order and peace."
LAW ENFORCEMENT: WHAT COMMUNITY ARE YOU FROM?
Milica Radovanović, project manager and researcher of the New Social Initiative, tells "Vreme" that, if someone really called for hatred, there is a law for that, and that should be established, but the problem in this situation, she states, is inconsistency. "We don't see the same commitment when it comes to nationalist messages and hate speech coming from the majority community. During the election campaign, at political rallies, flags of 'great Albania' could be seen. Those symbols are painted on murals all over Kosovo and are sold on T-shirts in shops, without the police arresting, confiscating those symbols or punishing them," Radovanović points out. She emphasizes that such an attitude towards symbols can also be seen in the work of institutions. "In South Mitrovica, the Cultural Center is named 'Redžep Mitrovica', after the man who collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War and was prime minister under the German occupation," Radovanović cites as an example.
So, says our interlocutor, when symbols and figures from that milieu get public space, when streets are named after them, or when they get money from the budget, there are no arrests, and hate speech is overlooked. When, on the other hand, members of the Serbian community sing or wear national costumes on a religious holiday, it is treated as a security threat. "When the law is applied in such a way", warns Radovanović, "strictly on one side, and as if it doesn't exist on the other, it is no longer concern for public order, but selectivity".
ALLEGATIONS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE
The day after the arrest, Radio KiM published allegations that the police physically harassed and humiliated the arrested both on the spot and later in the station. They claim that during the detention they were slapped and beaten, and that they were insulted and threatened. As Radio learns, they were also asked to loudly shout "Kosovo republic". The police officers urinated on a part of the national costume of one of the detainees, reports Radio KiM. According to Radio, at least one of the detainees has visible physical injuries. Due to these claims, the Kosovo Ombudsman launched a preliminary investigation.
Due to all of the above, Radovanović says that, although she cannot confirm what happened, she would not dismiss such claims lightly, considering previously publicly recorded cases in which members of the Serbian community suffered physical abuse during detention.
What does this picture from Gazimestan say about the position of Serbs in Kosovo? What has changed over time? Finally, what next? "What worries me the most", says Milica Radovanović, "is that what should not be normal is slowly becoming normal. I am not talking about one incident, but about a series of incidents that have occurred in recent months and that fit into the same pattern. In Gazivode, the 'Rezala' camp was taken over with police assistance, and the owners were not shown any court or executive decision. In Čečevo, cottages were demolished, and the public company 'only carried out the execution', although for that There is no authorization. The garages that people have been using for decades have been demolished, and the municipality was not informed or consulted, even though the municipality issued a permit on the spot, which is not its job. An elected councilor from Leposavic was verbally prohibited from entering Kosovo, with the explanation that 'some kind of procedure is being conducted against him'. Radovanović enumerates.
When everything is lined up, it can be seen that the police act more and more often as if they are the municipality and the court and the executor at the same time, and they are not, says our interlocutor. "The role of the police is to implement the decisions of the competent authorities, not to make them themselves. In almost every one of these cases, the same thing is repeated: there is no written decision, no explanation, no right to appeal," Radovanović points out. She points out that what is most needed in Kosovo is the consistent application of the law, but that is not happening. "In the majority community", he continues, "this is not an issue at all, neither for the government nor for the opposition, there is no internal social pressure to change anything. When some harmful decision or treatment towards the Serbs was stopped, it happened until now almost exclusively after pressure from the international community. However, as soon as that pressure is gone, everything goes back to the way it was". Milica Radovanović concludes: "Additionally, the problems and discrimination faced by Serbs are most often not seen as real, but are reduced to propaganda from Belgrade and relativized by referring to the discrimination that Albanians suffered in the 1990s. As long as it is viewed that way - as someone else's propaganda, and not as a matter of rights - it is difficult to expect fundamental change."
What then is the fate of the Serbs in Kosovo? Whichever system they turn to, Serbian or Kosovo, their fate is the same - a dirty container. Whether it is the container of the Kosovo Police in Gazimestan into which the arrested are stuffed, or the one at the administrative crossing, where they go to collect their mail and salary and where practically their entire lives are housed. Humiliated and oppressed, only those Serbs who have nowhere to go will remain in Kosovo.
Warning to the Kosovo Government
The Office of the European Union in Kosovo and Quinte and Eulex countries sent a letter to the institutions of Kosovo in mid-June, in which they briefly stated that the Constitution and legislation of Kosovo protect the right of all communities to preserve, express and develop their identity, including the use and highlighting of community symbols. The authorities of Kosovo have an obligation not only not to interfere in the realization of that right, but also to create conditions for its equal application. Milica Radovanović says that this kind of reaction is important as an international confirmation that the problem really exists. "When the EU and the countries of the Quinte send such a letter, it is an acknowledgment that in Kosovo the use of national symbols and community flags is hindered and applied selectively, which the authorities persistently deny," explains Radovanović. But, she says, there is no benefit from it for now: "Despite this warning, the authorities continue as before. The symbols and flags of a community are still being targeted and declared a threat."
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