Petkovic condemns Pristina's raid on Leposavic sports hall

BELGRADE - Commenting on the Pristina authorities' raid on a sports hall in Leposavic, Kosovo-Metohija on Tuesday, the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said it was an act of bare force and illegal property snatching in front of the eyes of the entire international community.

Built exclusively with Serbian government funds, the facility was used by hundreds of children for school sports and extracurricular activities, by many recreational athletes and sports clubs from the Leposavic municipality, as well as by the Faculty of Physical Education, Petkovic said in a statement released by the Office for Kosovo-Metohija.

He noted that a Serbian flag had been removed from the building and replaced with the flag of the illegal institutions in Pristina, and that the management of the facility had even been told to leave the yard and the area around the building.

"This way, (Pristina's caretaker PM Albin) Kurti is making another escalatory move with the aim of destabilising the situation on the ground, and continues to directly attack even Serbian children and youth," Petkovic noted.

Everywhere in the world, children are able to engage in sports and have their sports halls, while in Kosovo-Metohija, Serb children have absolutely no rights, and a robbery-like snatching of property that belongs to someone else is taking place in front of the eyes of the entire international community, in an illegal and unilateral manner, Petkovic said.

"On what grounds and according to what law are these institutions being misappropriated, and impossible conditions being created for the Serbs to make them leave their ancestral homes?" Petkovic asked.

The entire international community knows well that 20 per cent of Serbs have had to leave the north of Kosovo-Metohija due to provocations and threats by Pristina, Petkovic said, noting that such raids were a message to Serbs who remained in the province to leave their homes.

Accompanied by Leposavic mayor Lulzim Hetemi and his deputy Marina Bogojevic, the so-called Kosovo Police raided the sports hall - property of the Leposavic Sports and Tourism Organisation - earlier in the day.