Employees at PA Kosovska Mitrovica: This job is our lifeline, we do not intend to leave

The employees of the Provisional Authority of Kosovska Mitrovica, who arrived this morning hoping to return to their workplaces after the Kosovo Police stormed the PA building on Friday, have stated that they will not leave because this job is the lifeline for them and their families.

Zarko Pajovic, an employee of the Municipal Administration of Kosovska Mitrovica, told the media that the Provisional Municipal Authority in North Mitrovica, which has been closed, was a lifeline for the people.

"You are probably wondering why we came this morning. I have been working for 35 years, providing services to everyone, regardless of nationality or religion. We came because this is our lifeline, we have no other income, this is what we earn. We don’t have private businesses or anything else. This is our lifeline," Pajovic said.

As he added, there are many questions for the citizens.

"Another question is, where will citizens now get birth certificates? Where will you register a newborn child? If you want to schedule a wedding, where will you schedule it? City greenery, cleanliness – how will they do their job, who will pay for that, who will settle the obligations? That is why we came to express our protest, we didn’t do anything wrong, we are just ordinary workers. You know, after 35 years, there’s a bitterness – where was I, what did I do? Nothing. We didn’t harm anyone, we provided services here to everyone – Albanians, Serbs, Roma, Gorani... everyone," Pajovic said.

Aleksandra Dasic, an employee of the Municipal Administration of Kosovska Mitrovica, said that until last week, everything had been functioning normally.

"After working hours, there was a break-in at our workplace, our building. Today we came here to try to return to our workplaces. This is not a protest but simply an attempt to return to our workplaces because otherwise, the citizens won’t be able to do anything. We will have to go, as we do with medicines or money, sixty kilometers away to Raska or Novi Pazar to get things done," Dasic said.

When asked what they will do if they likely receive a negative response, she said they will see what the next steps will be.

"We do not intend to leave here, we will stay until the end. I don’t know what was confiscated in this building," Dasic said.

Her colleague, Jelena Timotijevic, who has been working at the Municipal Administration for 20 years, said that she had come today, as she did every first working day of the week, to her workplace.

"As far as I can see, it is not possible for us to work. They are not allowing us to enter and sit at our workplaces. I wonder how these people will function after all this because newborns were registered here, people claimed their social benefits, and families registered deaths, and obtained death certificates. I’m curious about how the functioning of this city will continue. More than 1,000 people will lose these jobs, and imagine the family members who are fed from this budget. I live in Mitrovica, I was born in Mitrovica, and I don’t want to leave. The state of Serbia enabled this, stands by us, and we believe in it," Timotijevic said.