Kosovo Police detain artist attempting to restore Patriarch Pavle mural in North Mitrovica

The Kosovo Police detained artist Stefan Stojanovic Slash and issued him a misdemeanor citation today in the center of North Mitrovica after he attempted to repaint a mural depicting Patriarch Pavle and Metropolitan Amfilohije, which had previously been painted over.

Stojanovic had obtained a permit from the Municipality of North Mitrovica to paint a mural dedicated to Patriarch Pavle at that location, but the police did not recognize the permit and subsequently detained him.

“We started by placing a sketch that serves as the basis for the mapping process of the work I was supposed to create, which was dedicated to Patriarch Pavle. The original mural had already been painted over, although we had painted it several years ago while studying in Kosovska Mitrovica. The intention was to restore it to that surface. We had a valid permit, but the police did not accept it. They came twice. The first time everything was fine, but then they returned with several more officers, detained us, and issued a citation for damaging a public surface,” Stojanovic said.

The artist had been engaged by a non-governmental organization headed by his friend from North Mitrovica to create the new mural, as he and his fellow students had originally painted the previous one at the same location.

“They initiated the effort to bring the mural back to Mitrovica, so I was invited, as someone who had already worked on the original mural, to restore it. Essentially, they were not particularly interested in what would appear on the mural, except that at one point they seemed provoked by the fact that I had written ‘Kosovska Mitrovica’ on the wall,” he stated.

In addition to Stojanovic, several young men who had been accompanying him and happened to be at the scene were also taken to the police station in North Mitrovica.

“They questioned us about why we were doing it, how we were doing it, and who had hired us. That was basically it. I would still like to see it happen in the end, but now we will have to wait and see what comes next,” the artist said.

In August last year, graffiti and murals featuring Serbian national symbols that had stood for years on the walls of several buildings in North Mitrovica were painted over with the assistance of the Kosovo Police and on the order of the Municipality of North Mitrovica, which at the time was headed by Albanian mayor Erden Atiq from the Self-Determination movement.

During the same period when murals depicting Serbian figures were removed, a mural dedicated to members of the Kosovo Liberation Army was painted in Decani.

Interviewees speaking to Kosovo Online on the subject argue that symbols associated with the Serbian community have for some time been viewed as undesirable in public spaces by the authorities in Pristina, while noting that the effect of repeatedly covering historical and cultural markings with layers of paint may ultimately differ from what was intended.