Kosovo-Metohija Serbs hold peaceful mass protest at Rudare

RUDARE - Kosovo-Metohija Serbs on Thursday held a peaceful mass protest at Rudare, near Zvecan, a municipality in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, over recent threats by Pristina's PM Albin Kurti.

Former Zvecan mayor Dragisa Milovic, a doctor of medicine, said the Serbs had gathered to send a message that they were no criminals or terrorists, but citizens whose rights were in jeopardy.

We want to point to the fact that the fundamental human rights of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs are under threat, and that citizens, doctors, professors, lawyers, students, pupils and everyone else has gathered here and that, contrary to the way Pristina is portraying us, we are not some armed gang, Milovic said.

"This is a peaceful and democratic gathering against Kurti's threats that barricades can be removed with human casualties. That has intimidated us. Those are the messages that have been coming out of Pristina throughout the past months. They are not messages of peace and co-existence," he said.

He said Pristina was sending its messages through arrests, harassment and terror against the Serbs.

He said the protesters wanted the release of three Serbs recently arrested by Pristina - Dejan Pantic, Miljan Adzic and Sladjan Trajkovic.

Milovic said one of the requests was also that Pristina's special police troops be withdrawn from the north of the province and that their illegal bases in the area be dismantled.

He said the Kosovo-Metohija Serbs believed in the support of their state, Serbia.

Pantic's son Predrag said his father's arrest was not the only reason for the barricades in the north of the province, but that it was the straw that had broken the camel's back.

"My father has been arrested and has already been found guilty. People who are neither judges nor prosecutors already know he is guilty. My father is guilty for being a Serb and for having lived here all his life. The people identify themselves with him and see that any of us could be arrested tomorrow. In addition to the fact he has been arrested despite being innocent and that we have no news about him, they (Pristina) are violating his rights as a detainee. We have neither seen him nor heard from him," Predrag said.

Srpska lista leader Goran Rakic said Serbs in the north of Kosovo-Metohija wanted peace and freedom and would not give up on what was theirs.

He reiterated a request for a release of the arrested Serbs and withdrawal of all of Pristina's secret arrest lists.