Protest in Gracanica: The Serbs are only looking for peace and freedom; today it seems that being a Serb is the biggest crime in Kosovo

From today's protest rally in Gracanica due to the arrest of Dragisa Milenkovic and other Serbs, justice, freedom, and peace for the Serbs in Kosovo were demanded. Also, it was said that despite the terror, the Serbs would stay and survive in their hearths.

The writer Ratko Popovic pointed out at the protest meeting that the Serbs were only looking for peace, and freedom for their families, but also for their neighbors with whom the Serbs had used to live well.

"Dragisa Milenkovic is gone, the host is gone, who honorably defended his doorstep with his family, with his children, whom he educated, and from whom he expected the future, that they would remain in this area as true patriots. However, it happened when 700 years of Gracanica were celebrated, which stoically bore everything here, it is the apple of our eye, it gave all the love, it is our light, which represents us in front of the world, so that we can stand dominantly and stoically in front of the world and bear witness to Serbian existence, and today we are experiencing all this, humiliation, insults, arrests, mistreatment," Popovic said.

On the occasion of the court's decision to remand Dragisa Milenkovic into custody for 30 days, Popovic said that this was a scenario that had been worked out in these areas.

"Someone skillfully and expertly did it. Arrest, detention, and then hardships arise for the family, and the environment," he added.

Popovic points out that the arrest of the Serbs happens on major holidays, and that it is not the first time.

"The Serbs have been repeating this for centuries that Vidovdan itself is marked in a shameful way. Our glory, celebration, and festivities that we are looking forward to, here it is not only violated, but an offensive message has been sent, which we cannot accept, and that will last until next Vidovdan and I don't know how long," Popovic said.

Popovic added that despite everything, the Serbs would survive on their hearths.

"We will stay here and survive. We have to stay because of Ulpiana, where many churches and church sites, which are Christian places of worship, have been discovered; we must not sell our property, we are here to last, to persevere, we have something to be proud of, we have someone to tell his ancestral history," Popovic concluded.

Dusan Borisavljevic from the Youth Council of Gracanica said he had the impression that "the most common crime in Kosovo today is to be a Serb".

He appealed to the international community to provide the Serbs with a normal life in the ghetto when they failed in the cities.

 "Well, is it that the people who fought throughout history for the freedom of the West, the freedom of Europe, today do not have freedom and justice, even if it was in the ghetto? I do not have an answer to that question, as well as an answer to why Milenkovic, fathers, brothers, and friends, why they are arrested. We, the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, must be aware that there is a huge burden on our backs, but that this burden comes with a great blessing because we are the ones who protect the centuries from oblivion. We are not alone in this effort, King Milutin’s Gracanica and Saint Archangels stand by us, while the Patriarchate of Pec, Decani Monastery, and Draganac guard our backs," Borisavljevic said.

Hundreds of people attended the rally, and it ended with a protest march to the Gracanica Monastery.