Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Harassment of Blazic a new ethnic incident orchestrated by Kurti, urgent reaction by international representatives needed

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Government of Serbia announced that the harassment of Vukasin Blazic and two of his friends, one of whom is a minor, by Kosovo police at a checkpoint near the Bistrica Bridge represents a new ethnic incident orchestrated by Albin Kurti and his parapolice forces, whose targets include Serbian children as well.

“Members of Kurti’s henchmen attacked the boys solely because one of them had stickers of his sports club with the Serbian coat of arms on his phone. They first demanded that the sticker be removed, and then, according to his father, pulled Vukasin out of the car, dragged him, pushed him, and kicked him. As a result of the entire incident, the boy received medical assistance at the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center, where he spent the night under observation,” the statement said.

This parapolice checkpoint, as the Office stresses, should not exist at the Bistrica Bridge or anywhere in northern Kosovo and Metohija, and was set up solely with the intention of harassing and intimidating the Serbian population, as evidenced by numerous incidents recorded at this location.

They recalled that Serb Milan Jovanovic was shot there while transporting pots, that several other Serbs were wounded, and that many were beaten and harassed.

The statement notes that the Office for Kosovo and Metohija has repeatedly warned international representatives about numerous dangerous incidents occurring at this location with the aim of harassing the Serbian population, but, as stated, they have not reacted.

“Just the day before, in Decani, Dejan S. and Radovan M. were shot by an Albanian extremist solely because they are Serbs and dared to speak the Serbian language in a place that has been ethnically cleansed of Serbs,” the statement recalls.

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija warned of a new wave of violence against Serbs since the beginning of the year.

“A new wave of violence against everything Serbian since the beginning of the year, at a time when our people are marking their holidays, shows increased anti-Serb hysteria by the regime in Pristina, whose actions also motivate attacks by extremists against our people throughout Kosovo and Metohija. Therefore, this situation requires an urgent reaction and concrete action by international representatives to protect the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija, and we will insist on this,” the Office’s statement said.

According to Sasa Blazic, the father of the injured 19-year-old Vukasin, Kosovo police last night harassed the boys at the checkpoint near Bistrica because of a Red Star emblem with the Serbian coat of arms on the phone of a 13-year-old.

They demanded that his son remove the sticker from the phone, but Vukasin refused to take someone else’s phone, after which a police officer peeled off the sticker and then threw the phone at his son’s face. They then kicked him as well.