Radojevic: Patriarch Pavle mural conveys a message of peace, tolerance and mutual respect

The Mayor of North Mitrovica, Milan Radojevic, announced that representatives of the Ministry of Local Government Administration arrived at the Municipality today without prior notice, requesting a meeting regarding the painting of a mural depicting Patriarch Pavle. He said that no clear explanation was given as to why the mural was being prevented, but stressed to his interlocutors that it conveys a message of peace, tolerance and respect and does not offend anyone's feelings.

“Today, representatives of the Ministry of Local Government Administration visited the Municipality of North Mitrovica without prior notice or a scheduled meeting and requested a discussion regarding the painting of a mural depicting Patriarch Pavle and featuring one of his quotations. Although their visit had not been announced, we received them in order to hear why the Ministry of Local Government Administration, through the Kosovo Police, is preventing the painting of this mural. During the meeting, we were given no clear explanation, apart from the claim that the mural could ‘offend members of minority communities and the religious sentiments of certain fellow citizens,’” Radojevic wrote on Instagram.

He said he pointed out to his interlocutors that the mural does not offend anyone's feelings but, on the contrary, conveys a strong message of peace, reconciliation, tolerance and mutual respect to all residents of the municipality.

Radojevic also emphasized that the painting of murals does not fall within the competence of the Ministry of Local Government Administration and that, through its actions, the Ministry's representatives are directly interfering with the competences of local self-government.

“The work of the Municipality of North Mitrovica is fully transparent. We informed the Ministry’s representatives that the residents of the building, as well as citizens living in that part of the town, had given their consent for the mural to be painted, on the basis of which the competent municipal authority acted. Such conduct not only restricts the right of the local self-government to act within its statutory competences, but also undermines citizens’ right to freedom of expression and their right to publicly promote the values of peace, tolerance and coexistence,” Radojevic wrote.

The Kosovo Police recently prevented the painting of the mural and detained artist Stefan Stojanovic, a former student at the University of Mitrovica, despite the municipality having granted permission for him to repaint the mural depicting Patriarch Pavle together with his message.

At the time, the police issued a misdemeanor report against artist Stefan Stojanovic, known as Slash, and also detained three other young men who were with him.

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

During the same period in which murals depicting Serbian figures were painted over, a mural dedicated to members of the KLA was created in Decani.

Kosovo Online’s interlocutors believe that symbols bearing a Serbian national character have for some time been unwelcome in public spaces for the authorities in Pristina, and that repeatedly covering over these traces of history with layers of paint may ultimately produce the opposite effect from that intended.