Mavric: Flag burning is unacceptable, but it won't intimidate the Serbs

The Coordinator of the Missing Persons Resource Center, Negovan Mavric, said for Kosovo Online that it was unacceptable to burn the Serbian flag at the monument to the killed and kidnapped Serbs from the Municipality of Orahovac in the 21st century.

"When we heard that the flag was burned, we were surprised because we thought such incidents were in the past, that the flag didn't bother anyone. Unknown individuals have removed and burned the flag several times, and the cross on the monument has been broken a few times as well. But today, this surprised us, and we cannot believe that there are still people who do this in the 21st century. This is certainly unacceptable“, Mavric said.

Mavric added that Albanian flags could be seen over tombstones all over Kosovo, which didn't bother anyone.

"I don't understand why and who is bothered by the memorial where the Serbs were killed and kidnapped, so they have to burn the flag", Mavric noted.

As he emphasized, burning the flag will not intimidate the Serbs.

"It certainly cannot intimidate us. I don't know the opinion of people who organize or burn flags. It's probably some organization, as flag burnings continue, but we can tell them that we will stay in our country", Mavric said.

Of course, the flag would be returned, Mavric stated, and it might even be larger.

In the Orahovac Municipality, more than 100 Serbs and Roma people were kidnapped and killed in the conflicts in 1998 and 1999. The Journalists’ Association of Serbia erected a memorial plaque with the names of missing journalists and the driver of Radio Pristina, Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic, near Velika Hoca, which is repeatedly vandalized and destroyed.