Simic: We have chosen peace, but the situation here is boiling; people cannot live like this in the 21st century

The vice-president of the Serb List, Igor Simic, said that the situation in Kosovo was currently calm, but tense, RTS reports.

Simic added that that night had been another sleepless night for the Serbs in Kosovo due to the unilateral moves of Pristina, which last night "tried to occupy the north of Kosovo and Metohija by sending more than 250, 300 Albanian members of the Special Forces from the southern part".

"A night when parents had to think about whether they can send their children to school; whether they can go to work; whether they can go to the store to buy their necessities. These are basic things that are considered normal - where everyday life is normal. The question here is what to do and how to continue. If you take into account that in less than 16 hours, Albin Kurti and his special forces caused a crisis in Velika Hoca by stealing property from the Serbs and the Petrovic family; the intrusion of the ROSU special forces into the kindergarten in Leposavic, while the Serbian children are sleeping and last night's attempt to land and occupy the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica - this best describes the situation and how the citizens feel in the north of Kosovo and Metohija and not only Serbs but also Albanians, Bosniaks, Roma people, Gorani people and all the others who were taken aback last night by such moves of further destabilization of the situation on the part of Pristina," Simic says.

He added that everyone among the Serbs in Kosovo was trying to provide their children with a normal life.

"But how? Just imagine the situation when special forces, armed to the teeth, who have caused hundreds of incidents and beaten the Serbs, come a few meters from the heads of children who are peacefully sleeping in kindergarten, or when unknown armed men suddenly appear around your apartments and houses, in the middle of the night, demonstrating force and trying to intimidate the bare-handed, ordinary people who just want to live a life worthy of a man in their hearths," Simic adds.

"The plan is clear - to create such conditions that the Serbs give up and withdraw"

When asked where the special forces were at the moment, Simic says that on the outskirts of the city in mixed multi-ethnic settlements there are still some units that came from the south illegally, without any reason, to the north of Kosovo and above all to North Mitrovica.

"What I want to emphasize in particular is that the excuse they used to come, is absolutely not true. There was no destabilization of the situation here - Serbs and Bosniaks, Albanians and the Gorani people had an absolutely normal day here yesterday," Simic emphasizes.

He reminded that in the past few years we had had thirty attacks on the Serbs.

"When we insisted on increasing the presence of the police south of the Ibar, where the Serbs are most vulnerable; where they suffer the greatest pressure, no one from Pristina thought of sending an additional patrol, let alone hundreds of Special Forces members, armed to the teeth. So that is the hypocrisy that Albin Kurti and his poltroons show because the plan is clear - to create such conditions, to put such pressure on the Serbs, on the Serbian children, on the Serbian farmers who are struggling to provide their children with a crust of bread in Velika Hoca so that the Serbs give up; so that the Serbs withdrew from these areas," Simic points out.

"People can't live like this in the 21st century"

Speaking about how the Serbs would behave in the following days, Simic says that not a single incident in the past months in Kosovo was caused by Serbian citizens who calmly and dignifiedly try to preserve peace for themselves and their families in impossible conditions.

"We are trying to give space to the negotiators that through dialog, and the leadership of the Serb List especially insists on this, to resolve the open issues between Belgrade and Pristina, profitably between Serbs and Albanians, through dialogue," Simic said.

He pointed out that, unfortunately, they could not predict Pristina's moves.

"So our actions, the actions of our citizens will absolutely depend on the situation on the ground. What I can confirm is that we are committed to peace and will do everything to preserve peace, but believe me, it is boiling here, people cannot live like this in the 21st century on the soil of Europe, while Pristina tramples basic human rights, all signed agreements, mistreats the Serbs, and the international community is silent," Simic concluded.