Todic: Serbs will be persistent in their fight; Albanian mayor is not welcome

The former mayor of Leposavic, Zoran Todic, stated that the people of their municipality refuse to be represented by someone who won only 100 votes in the elections and that they will persist in their fight until their demands are met.

"We demanded that employees be allowed unhindered access to their workplaces, that Mr. Hetemi, elected in illegitimate elections, leaves the building, and that the Kosovo Police Special Forces withdraw from the Municipality of Leposavic. The response from KFOR is that they are not the ones making the decisions," Todic said in an interview for RTV Pink.

Todic pointed out that Serbs had not withdrawn from Kosovo institutions and had not boycotted the elections out of stubbornness but because they had refused to participate in the intentions of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

"We all know that Serbs boycotted the elections because our demands were not met. That's why Serbs had previously left Kosovo institutions. We asked the representatives of the international community to put an end to this, to withdraw the Kosovo Police Special Forces, and establish the CSM. We did not want to participate in Albin Kurti's intentions to work against the interests of our people, and since then, no Serb has worked in Kosovo institutions," Todic added.

Todic reminded that the elections had been held on April 23 in containers and emphasized that a significantly smaller number of Albanians had participated, with Lulzim Hetemi winning only 100 votes.

"We did not resign out of stubbornness. We entered into political struggle, and we do not want to participate in the persecution, repression, and harassment of our people carried out by the government in Pristina," Todic said.

He emphasized that the situation in Leposavic is currently calm and that the residents of Leposavic have gathered today, determined to persist in their fight until their demands are met.

"On Friday, armed members of the Kosovo Police Special Forces forcibly brought Hetemi into the building, and three young men were injured. The residents do not agree that someone who won only 100 votes represents us," Todic said.

According to him, Kurti continues with repression, aiming to expel the Serbian people.

"This time, the focus is on the four northern municipalities. Let's remember the land seizure. All the decisions Kurti implements, he does so with armed police officers. This leads to nothing. The residents of our municipalities are determined to persist, there will be no retreat. Hetemi is not welcome here; he came into someone else's house and has been in the building for over 70 hours. Last night, he said he would leave but couldn't because of the gathered people. I tell him he can leave and not come back," Todic stated.

He stressed that employees want to return to their workplaces and that the situation should return to how it was last Thursday.

"We know what we are facing. It has never been easy before, but this is unacceptable for all of us living in the four northern municipalities," Todic concluded.