On the day the Serbs protested in the north of Kosovo, numerous news circulated regarding the citizens’ participation in the protest, wherein Serbian politicians and media have raised claims that the Serbs might’ve been prevented from joining the protest from other regions of Kosovo.
Dalibor Jevtiq, the former mayor of the municipality of Shtërpce and at the same time the vice president of the Serbian List, through a statement on "twitter" said that the Serbs from the south of Kosovo to a large extent came out to peacefully protest in Rudare. But according to him, the Kosovo Police (KP), on Thursday, stopped and returned the buses with Serbs that were taking the road from Shtërpca to the north, imposing fines on all those who do not have Kosovo identity cards. This is an example of the democracy and freedom that Kurti talks about", wrote Jevtiq.
He also attached to the post the fine that KP imposed on the bus driver. But in the misdemeanor fine, it is stated that the fine was imposed because "the driver ran into traffic while driving the bus without calibrating the tachograph. At the same time, the disc diagram of the tachograph recorded the time interval in the opposite way, where instead of 09:40 being regular, the register had 21:40, incorrect".
Jevtić's post was published by several media in Serbia, saying that the Serbs were not allowed to join the protest and were "terrorized" by the police.
"The vice-president of the Serbian List, as well as the former vice-president of the Municipality of Štërpce, Dalibor Jevtić, has announced that the Serbs from the south of Kosmet today largely came out in a peaceful protest in Rudare, but that on the way they encountered threats and terrible terror, by the so-called Kosovo Police", wrote Alo.rs and Rtv.rs.
KP disproves the claims
But these claims have been denied by the Kosovo Police through a press release. According to KP, there was only routine control of the bus and legitimization of passengers.
"Referring to the statements and publications of some mediums that allegedly buses with protesters who intended to go to the anticipated protest in Rudare of Zveqani, have been prevented by the Kosovo Police, are untrue. During the execution of our legal duties and authorizations in order to guarantee law and safety, a bus was stopped according to routine control procedures and during the verification of documents some people did not accept to be legitimized by the competent authorities, therefore voluntarily (on their own accord) they have not continued further", it is emphasized in the press release of the KP.
The KP has added that it recognizes the legal right of every citizen to peacefully protest as well as the police's commitment to respect everyone’s human rights and freedoms regardless of their identities.
Protesters' demands
According to KP's on-the-ground assessments, Thursday's protest ended peacefully, without any reported incident, and about 1,500 participants participated.
Serbian citizens protested in the village of Rudarë against, as they said, the threats of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti. The protest took place at one of the nine barricades set up in the north, after the arrest of the former Serbian police officer of the Kosovo Police, Dejan Pantiq, on December 10.
The chairman of the Serbian List, Goran Rakiq, said that the demands for the removal of the barricades are to release the arrested Serbs, to withdraw the "secret lists for the arrest and shooting of Serbs", as well as to withdraw the special units of the Kosovo Police from the north of Kosovo.
*This article is published as part of the Western Balkans Regional Initiative against disinformation. “Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Hub: exposing malign influences through watchdog journalism.”
