04 December 2006

Albanians set up barricades to stop Serb bus with pilgrims near Suva Reka

Tanjug news agency, November 4, 2006

 

PRISTINA, November 4, 2006 (Tanjug) - Several dozen Albanians used vehicles and logs to obstruct the road close to the cemetery in the village of Lesane near Suva Reka and prevented Serb refugees and internally displaced persons from visiting the graves of their family on Memorial Saturday, advised the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija.

 

After the bus was brought to a stop by the barricades, one participant in the protests used a tractor to ram the bus.

 

Police arrested the tractor driver but several dozen more Albanians gathered and attacked both the police and the Serbs in the bus.

 

Police released the driver and he joined the group of Albanians attacking the bus without further obstruction.

 

The driver of the bus managed turn the bus around and leave the location of the attack in which no one was hurt.

 

The Serbs were unable to visit the cemetery in Lesane in their attempt to visit the graves of their relatives for the first time in seven and a half years.

 

The Republic of Serbia's Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija sharply condemned "the actions of the Albanian extremists" and appealed to the international community to note that the facts clearly indicate that even UNMIK and KFOR do not have control of the situation in Kosovo.

 

"With respect to interim Albanian institutions represented primarily by people who are much closer to crime and terrorism than democracy, we should not even expect any form of protection or establishment of the rule of law," the Coordinating Center concluded in its written statement.