As confirmed for KoSSev, the Kosovo Police fined two of the organizers of this week’s small businessmens’ protest in North Mitrovica today in the amount of 100 euros for failing to announce the gathering in advance.
On Monday, local businessmen from the north gathered in the town square to protest the six-month ban on the entry of Serbian goods into Kosovo, as well as the intensive confiscation of those goods from markets and warehouses by the Kosovo Police and Customs. On the same day, they launched a petition, which calls for the cancellation of this measure by Pristina, which they will then forward to Kosovo and international officials. The received the support of the citizens, who attended the gathering and signed this petition.
However, as they did not report the gathering to the police, as required by law, two organizers were fined today.
„They have been identified by the Kosovo Police as the organizers of Monday’s rally. Public gatherings are not put to a halt, but, according to the law on public order and peace, they must be announced to the police in advance. Failure to do so is a misdemeanour and is punishable by a fine of 100 euros. The fine is reduced if it is paid immediately,“ Veton Elshani, deputy commander of the KP for the region north, specified in a statement for KoSSev.
He also pointed out that they have the right to appeal against this measure.
In the meantime, the two participants of the rally who addressed the media in front of the gathered citizens on Monday, Dušan Gašić and Nenad Božović, confirmed in a statement to Radio Kontakt Plus that they were the ones who were fined.
They also confirmed that they refused to pay the fine and that they filed a complaint. They also said that they declared that they were not the organizers of the gathering.
„We declared that we were not the organizers, that the gathering was organized by businessmen in agreement with the citizens, that is, that only a stand and papers for signing the petition should have been brought out. Journalists at the protest asked someone to make a statement. Me and Neno (Nenad Božović) agreed with some people who were there that it would be best for us to make a statement, because we didn’t want someone to say something wrong, we didn’t want someone who was politically engaged before, or was involved in some political story, so that this story related to the petition would not be misunderstood. The decision was made in agreement with citizens and businessmen, that we will be the ones who will give the statement, because we can say concrete things, which concern the launch of the petition,“ Gašić told Radio Kontakt Plus.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
