The protests „Stop to Bloody Shirts“ and „1 out of 5 million“, which have been held in 25 towns in Serbia so far, will be held in North Mitrovica this Saturday. The organizers are announcing that the goal of the protest walk is for the residents of Northern Mitrovica and the north of Kosovo, as well as other Serb-majority communities in Kosovo, to show solidarity with the people, and their demands, in other parts of Serbia, who have been protesting for weeks. One of the organizers and a member of the Civic Initiative „Serbia, Democracy, Justice – Oliver Ivanovic“ in the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly, Marko Jaksic urged citizens to come to the protest walk and told KoSSev: „The walk will certainly happen, even if only two or three people walk“.
„This city once cast its lights far away. This city could have done better. These people probably deserved better, we can do it together,“ Jaksic posted earlier on Twitter and Facebook, inviting fellow citizens to join them on Saturday.
„The main goal of the gathering is that we want to send a message to everyone, but primarily to the representatives of Serbia – that we have the right to free opinion, speech and elections, the right to be different from others, even if we are an absolute minority and the right to not have any more bashed heads, burned cars, pressures, layoffs, threats or what happened to Oliver Ivanovic because of these differences,“ Jaksic told KoSSev.
The gathering place is the beginning of the walk, next to the Knez Lazar monument, while the walk will end at the place where Oliver Ivanovic was killed, where the protestors will light candles in honor of Ivanovic.
Although a member of the party led by Ivanovic, Jaksic emphasized that the protest is not organized by any party or political organization.
The idea of a protest walk of 1 out of 5 million in North Mitrovica originated, spontaneously, on Twitter, in communication between four citizens of this city: two men and two women. There is no political option or organization behind it
„There will be no speakers, no big words, and no promotion of political leaders. This is a purely a civil gathering. That evening, even I will not have, at least formally, the status that I have today and which the media have already used in reporting the announcement of this event,“ Jaksic said.
„In addition, all those who come on Saturday, 2nd February 2019 on the square of Knez Lazar in North Mitrovica at 18:00h, they come to this event as organizers of this walk. The idea is to walk through the main city streets, all the way to the place where Oliver Ivanovic was killed and finish the walk by lighting candles,“ he stressed.
„When we look at the map of Serbia and we mark all those places where decent people went out on the streets to express dissatisfaction with the situation of the state and society, whether in terms of media freedom, or unsolved assaults and murders, such as Oliver’s, we see that they (the marks) range from the ultimate north to the south. And we can spot a huge black hole, and it has been there for a long time, and for which we all say it is something of ours – and that is Kosovo and Metohija. So, if we think that we are Serbia, then we are in it always and with everything. In the good and the bad. Freedom of opinion, speech and election among Serbs in Kosovo has been on an since November 3rd, 2013, while it literally disappeared with Oliver’s assassination.“
Jaksic does not have „too many expectations“ from the gathering in North Mitrovica on Saturday, but he immediately adds:
„I still hope that a certain number of people, courageous people, from Kosovska Mitrovica, but also all parts of Kosovo and Metohija, both north and south of the Ibar, who will surely be under tremendous pressure because of it, will gather to show solidarity with people in other parts of Serbia who have been protesting for weeks, their disagreement with the state of lack of freedom under which they have been living for years, to point to the mass silent exodus that is happening to us, and show respect for the man who lost his life doing just what he wanted to do and was different from the majority, and was brave to choose it, by burning candles at the place where Oliver Ivanovic was killed.“
He stated that he is aware of possible obstructions, illustrating with what he sees as examples of „an ocean of false news, disinformation, manipulations“.
„This is surely waiting for us these days, but truth be told, I would like to mention that the family of the late Oliver Ivanovic supported this idea, and I expect that some of them will walk along with us,“ he underlined.
Jaksic invited fellow citizens to join the protest walk on Saturday in North Mitrovica.
During the day, the organizers will officially report the Saturday walk to the Kosovo Police.
According to announcements, the head of the Kosovo Office, Marko Djuric will spend the next three days visiting the north of Kosovo. Djuric’s arrival was announced to the media this morning. The last time he visited Kosovo was last September – during the visit of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Djuric will meet with Kosovo Serb representatives today at 5 pm in the hall of Zvecan municipality.
A walk will be held in Belgrade on Saturday for the ninth time in protest against violence, media censorship and false reporting, as well as the policies led by the current Serbian government and President Aleksandar Vucic. One of the continuous demands of the participants of the protest is to discover who are the killers and instigators of the murder of Oliver Ivanovic. In addition to Belgrade, protests have also been organized in 24 Serbian towns. The Serbian government and Aleksandar Vucic do not support these protests.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
