Kosovo policemen today entered the yard of an eighty-year-old ethnic Serb farmer D.P. from the village of Beluce, in the municipality of Leposavic, accusing him of provoking them after he raised his sajkaca, a traditional Serbian cap, to greet them – as per an old Serbian custom. According to his daughter in law. N.P’s testimony two police officers entered their yard and told her father-in-law that he provoked them and that he should no longer wear the cap. The police have no information about the incident.
We spoke to N.P. over the phone, who explained what happened around noon today in the village of Beluce.
The policemen were driving a blue vehicle that was not armored, however, they were in uniform and heavily armed. According to her, at the time of the incident, her father-in-law (D.P.) was in his front yard.
D.P. often wears a traditional Serbian cap – sajkaca. In the villages, it is an old custom for people to raise the sajkaca as a sign of greeting and respect for passers-by, travellers and guests.
„He did not take the cap off, he was just greeting them with it. I was inside the house, I only heard a noise, and I asked D. (her father-in-law) what was going on, he just replied: N. (her name) is upstairs. I left the house and saw two heavily armed policemen on the stairs. They said he provoked them out with the cap. Allegedly, he greeted them and they warned him not to put on his cap and to cease provoking them further.“
„I got upset and started yelling at them,“ N.P. specified.
She said in a statement for KoSSev that they have not yet reported the event to the police, that they are very upset and do not know what to do.
„What rights do we have today? We don’t have the right to say anything,“ she stressed.
The deputy commander of the region north, Veton Elshani, stated that they received no reports about the case. Elshani could neither confirm nor deny that this incident had taken place.
He says that if all this is true -„it is not okay“, adding that the family has the right to report the case to the Kosovo Police Inspectorate.
Petkovic: The police in the north carry out terror instead of ensuring peace
In the meantime, the head of the Kosovo Office, Petar Petkovic, reacted, saying that today’s incident in Leposavic is proof that the Pristina police forces „are tasked with carrying out terror and oppression“ in the north.
„Instead of ensuring peace and security,“ he said in a written statement.
Although the police officers, Petkovic claims, aimed to remove the sajkaca from the 80-year-old man – they left with their task unaccomplished.
„The terror of Kurti’s Falangists has crossed the line, and that is why there is no de-escalation until everyone withdraws from the north of Kosovo and Metohija,“ he underlined.
One of the users on Twitter, conveying our news, published a photo from the past with the message: „Once it was possible like this“.
A nekad je moglo ovako. https://t.co/9V4yi0r8rk pic.twitter.com/gIpseU99oE
— ʀɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ ᴅᴇ ʙᴏᴇʀ (@dhabirecorder) July 12, 2023
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
