Serbian Democracy party led by Aleksandar Arsenijević started collecting signatures to revoke the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly’s decision to allocate a plot of land near the Vojni Remont site to the Kosovo MIA. In just a few hours, more than 450 of the 1,870 signatures required have been collected. The signature collection will continue today.
Arsenijević and the members of this recently formed party started collecting signatures at 10 a.m. on the Mitrovica promenade, near the Knez Lazar Square.
Curious residents approached the stands, inquiring what the petition was about and entering their name, surname, address and Kosovo ID card number.
One of them was the former president of the Appellate Court in North Mitrovica, Nikola Kabašić.
„We have more than 450 signatures of our citizens, which means that they have actively joined this initiative to revoke the shameful decision that is not in their interest,“ Arsenijević told KoSSev.
He invited the citizens to come in the coming days and show their support for the initiative.
„Let’s be even more persistent because we need at least 1,870 signatures, or 10% of registered voters in North Mitrovica, in order to legally, under Article 71 of the Law on Local Self-Government, initiate the process of revoking this decision – that is, the allocation of almost three hectares of land known as Vojni Remont.“
And while the police claim that training center for driver’s education will be built on this land, Arsenijević claims that it will in fact be used for the construction of a new base for special units.
„That’s nothing new, it’s exactly the plan of Self-Determination, today’s government in Pristina, which in 2012, in 13 points, and under point four, made exactly this decision to build a base of Kosovo special units on that very plot, as well as on the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings where they have already built bases,“ Arsenijević told KoSSev.
My fellow citizens and I do not want armed special forces to walk through our parks and schoolyards every day and have a base there, that is not in the interests of the citizens
He emphasized that the petition „has no political orientation“ and does not make ethnic and religious distinctions.
„It is a matter of citizens’ survival,“ he concluded.
The signing of the petition will continue today at the same place, also from 10 am to 2 pm.
Posters have been displayed throughout the town, inviting citizens to sign a petition „against the seizure of the Vojni Remont and the construction of a police station.“
„We have a very short deadline to collect signatures. Come and support the petition against legal violence against our town, to defend our common interest,“ reads the invitation.
Serbian Democracy submitted a request to the chairman of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly, Nedžad Ugljanin, with the aim of overturning the aforementioned decision, and asked him for official details on the procedure for initiating a petition regarding the issue.
Ugljanin then confirmed for KoSSev that he forwarded the request to the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government, which replied that it had adopted it, and that the local parliament would also consider it.
On the same day, an announcement came from Serbian Democracy that a petition is being launched on Saturday with the aim of revoking the decision.
The decision to allocate a 27,400 square meter plot near the Vojni Remont to the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs „for operational needs“ was adopted by the North Mitrovica municipal assembly on December 29, at the last regular session for last year.
On the same day, the chairman of the assembly told KoSSev that a police station would be built on the allocated land, and that is because the police had to move out of the building where the station is now located. Only a week later, the Kosovo Police told KoSSev that the Regional Center for Driver’s Education will actually be opened on that plot, with the indication that the Kosovo MIA may use the land allocated to it for some other purpose in the future.
At the session held on December 29, Arsenijević announced that his party would try to overturn the decision via a petition.
Within the plot of the former Vojni Remont site, there are several institutions that function within the Serbian system, including the Municipality (the Provisional Authority of the Municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica), two public utility companies – Standard and Vodovod, a bus station built with funds from the European Union, a railway station, newly built sports hall. There is also an unfinished building that was supposed to house schools relocated from the south in 1999, as well as a school in the Romani language, the works on which were stopped this summer by the municipality of North Mitrovica. On December 29th, Nedžad Ugljanin said that he had knowledge that these facilities were not included in the land allocation plan.
Since the decision was adopted, this part of the town was visited by the Kosovo Minister of the Interior on January 5, and cadastre officials were also present at that location.
Arsenijević informed the public about this, noting that measurements were being made of the plot.
The Kosovo police, who were also present when these measurements were taken, confirmed that cadastre officials were present at the site.
KoSSev reached out to the Municipality of North Mitrovica on several occasions and in several ways, first of all with the question of whether the measurements were carried out by the officers of their municipal cadastre department.
At the same time, we asked them whether the plot assigned to the Kosovo MIA was measured, as well as why the measurements are being made.
We still haven’t received an answer from the local government.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
