Vucic: The Serbs are at the barricades because they cannot and will not tolerate oppression any longer

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said tonight that the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija were at the barricades tonight because they could not and would not suffer any more cruelty, RTV reports.

"Tonight our people are at the barricades; people are freezing because they have no other option and I haven't heard from any of them, I will call them after the conference but first I can tell you and the foreigners - people did it because they can't stand cruelty anymore - they can't and they won't," the president said during his speech.

As he says, he heard every day that Serbia was going to attack someone, but in fact the Albanians were just fabricating reasons to create crises, to attack Serbs, to mistreat them.

When asked by a journalist whether any different model of the CSM in Kosovo and Metohija was acceptable for Serbia than the one stated in the Brussels Agreement, Vucic pointed out that it was out of the question to negotiate on anything else until Pristina fulfilled what had been previously agreed upon as it was their duty.

He thus responded to the statement of the N1 journalist - that a new corrected version of the Franco-German proposal had been sent to both Belgrade and Pristina and the question of whether any other model of the CSM than what had been stated in the Brussels Agreement was acceptable.

"It is out of the question to negotiate about anything until the CSM is formed, it cannot be part of the new agreement as someone thinks it is possible, because it is part of the old agreement; until it is fulfilled, there cannot be a reason to give something new to Pristina, because it is an obligation for something that Belgrade has already done," Vucic pointed out.

He said that Prishtina had to fulfill this, but also that if it did not want to, it would certainly not be exposed to pressure, but we would be, and not to legal and just pressure.

"Who cares about that, since when law and justice have existed in the world? And we could hear enough shocking claims about the reasons for the negotiations, and it is frightening that some people brag about it," Vucic said.

When asked by journalists what was the current situation in Kosovo and Metohija and what was happening in Zubin Potok, Vucic said that they had arrested Dejan Pantic, who had previously worked in the archival department of the Kosovo Police and that he did not have a blemish in his career.

"Foreign services tried to pin something on him, but they didn't succeed. And now they don't know how to get out of this, because they have to find two liars - two witnesses, it is just like when they stole apartments from the Serbs. They don't know how to get out of this story,” Vucic said.

He stated that the Kosovo police had first allowed the exit from Kosovo at the administrative crossings of Jarinje and Brnjak, then blocked the entrance in Jarinje, and then in Brnjak.

"They blocked everything and there is no more entry or exiting at these two crossings to Kosovo and Metohija. They must think that terrorists from central Serbia are coming there because they cannot understand that the Serbs will not suffer cruelty anymore. I had no information about major conflicts, I know of two places in Zubin Potok where the barricades were set up, which people did on their own initiative. Since seven o'clock, since I have been here, I have no new information, we will have it tonight," Vucic said.

He added that another sleepless night in the cold was ahead for the Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija.

Speaking about the projects implemented by Serbia in Kosovo, he reminded that all those who had left Kosovo's institutions had been financially accepted in the institutions of the Republic of Serbia.

Among the projects, Vucic mentioned the Spiritual Academy in Kosovska Mitrovica, the elementary school in Leposavic which was being renovated, then the new building of the University in Kosovska Mitrovica, for which around 800 million Serbian dinars had been allocated, and the renovation of the bridge in Leposavic, for which around 600,000 euros had been allocated.

He also mentioned the new kindergarten near Strpce, as well as those being built in Gorazdevac, Pasijan, and Gracanica, then the new residential building in Zvecan, and the Student Dorm in Leposavic.

"We continue to do our work, we financially accepted all the people who worked in Kosovo institutions, all of them got jobs in the institutions of the Republic of Serbia and these people have guaranteed incomes and no one has less income than they used to have, on the contrary, some of those people will have the increases that go along with the increases that affect the public sector in Serbia as a whole," Vucic said.

Vucic also pointed out that there was a Kosovo bonus for Serbian teachers, doctors, medical staff, and all others so a teacher in Lesko has a significantly higher income than a teacher in Raska.