Fathers of the beaten young men: If they continue to act like bandits, we will radicalize the protest

The parents of the brutally beaten boys in Josanica near Leposavic stated that in the coming period, they would radicalize the protest if the Kosovo Special Forces continued to treat the Serbs in a bandit manner, and warned ROSU that the Serbs would no longer tolerate being treated as if they had been in a ghetto and captivity.

Miloica Djokovic, the father of the beaten Lazar, said that today they had gathered for a protest at a place that was a kilometer away from the entrance to the village of Josanica, and regarding the incident that had happened the night before last when they had beaten up his son and his neighbor for no reason.

"In the evening hours, they stopped the children, pulled them out of the car, beat them, and kicked them out, without even asking for their documents. They had no reason, the children had nothing in the car, if the children had hidden anything they should have taken their documents and if they were guilty, they would be taken to the Secretary of Internal Affairs so that we could talk downstairs, but they beat the children, kicked them out and left," Djokovic said.

According to him, today's protest was attended by householders from the village who work all their lives and honestly fight to survive in this area, and whom the government from Pristina calls criminals and bandits.

"In the coming period, we expect to radicalize this protest if they do not come to their senses and realize that this is serious and that this is the last straw. I would tell them to calm down and not behave arrogantly and create this kind of chaos." Djokovic pointed out.

He asked the Government of Serbia to help them as much as it could and to understand that this was the end.

"I would ask them to understand that there is no survival in these areas with this way of life," Djokovic said while also addressing the international community.

Dragos Micovic, the father of the beaten Djordje, said that yesterday they had contacted EULEX and that the beaten young men had been interrogated for more than an hour.

According to him, the EULEX policemen had been correct, and the Austrian policeman had been very involved.

"He engaged as much as he could and tried to get the inspectors to come and examine our children. Those inspectors told us that there is not a shred of guilt for our children, that it is clear as day that they were brutally beaten, and now it all depends on the public prosecutor. I have to say again, as I said the first evening - a thief does not steal from another thief. Their police, it is their law and they will protect it, they will sweep it under the carpet, as they always have," Micovic said.

He said that his son Djordje and Lazar had wanted to keep quiet about this beating, but they had not let them to do so.

"If we had allowed it, there would have been beatings like our children were beaten every other day or every day. I am asking all Kosovo institutions, KFOR, and EULEX to stop this bandit violence, it is not the police, they are bandits and criminals as they call us, so I am asking them to prevent it so that there are no unwanted consequences. Later, everything will be too late when something happens,” he said.

When asked if patrols of special units had been noticed in the village today, Micovic says that he had not noticed them, except for one that he had noticed this morning heading towards the village, but he did not know where they had been.

He warned ROSU that the Serbs would not tolerate it anymore.

"Not only me, but the whole village and the people will not tolerate it anymore. We are in the ghetto, in captivity, this is how you treat us. I called the Albanian media to come and see the meeting of our people, but they did not want to come, this is a sign that they support their force and the way they treat us," Micovic pointed out.

The parents of the beaten boys found that before the protest, they went to the municipality of Leposavic, where they presented their problems to the ombudsman.

They say that they are particularly sorry because they were rejected by the Albanian media, which they found in large numbers in the municipality, and invited them to come and record the story of the protest and take statements from the beaten boys.

President Zoran Todic himself invited them, the parents said, adding that he had also invited journalists and the ombudsman to go to the protest site together, but none of them had showed up in Josanica.