Around 50 students and professors from the „University of Pristina with temporary seat in Kosovska Mitrovica“ staged a protest on Wednesday in central North Mitrovica, warning about the uncertain future of the institution and calling on both Kosovo authorities and the Serbian government to clarify its status.
Gathering near the monument to Prince Lazar, protesters said the demonstration was organized because of the “current situation” surrounding the university. Among those addressing the crowd was prominent Slavic scholar and former professor Mitra Reljić, who urged Serbian institutions to support the university they had established.
“To the authorities in Pristina, I would say: finally issue us a permit to live,” Reljić told the gathering.
The protest, initially scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m., began about ten minutes later and was monitored by the Kosovo Police.
At the same time, nearby cafés and outdoor terraces in the city center remained filled with young people and residents during the protest. According to information obtained unofficially by KoSSev, the gathering was not supported by the Srpska Lista or other official Serbian political and institutional structures on Kosovo.
Students carried banners reading:
“Why is Belgrade silent?”,
“Recently Pristina considers Kosovo Serbs foreigners — Belgrade has long done the same”,
“You cannot divide us as much as we can stand together”, and
“Where will the next temporary seat be?”
Reljić: “Issue us a permit to live”
Addressing the crowd, Reljić framed the issue in both political and social terms, linking it to broader concerns about the rights and future of the Serbian community.
“Easter is approaching — the 27th since what I remember as the time of ‘Albright-ization’, Blair’s excesses and Schröder’s campaigns with their deadly cargo,” she said, referring to the 1999 NATO intervention.
With the Muslim holiday of Eid also approaching, she posed a question to colleagues in the Albanian academic community.
“I ask my Albanian colleagues — professors, teachers — have they ever wondered by what justice or right their Serbian neighbors greet the holidays of March, if not in flames, then in tension and despair?”
Reljić said the community was asking not only for basic existence, but for the right to live normally.
“That means not only the right to breathe, but the right to study, live, and preserve our identity, including our Cyrillic script in this city,” she said, arguing that suppressing it would contradict Kosovo’s own language law.
She also addressed authorities in Belgrade.
“They should remember their disenfranchised stepchild and stand behind the university they founded.”
Student speaker: “The university is the last line”
Students also took the floor, including Luka Pečenković, a philosophy student in the English Department originally from Čačak.
“We are expected to remain silent. We have been told not to speak. Colleagues, enough is enough,” Pečenković said at the start of his speech.
He said students must acknowledge the reality of the situation and stop pretending everything is normal.
“For months we have pointed out what is happening on the ground and asked basic questions: under which system will we study, how will we live, and whether we will even remain here,” he said.
Pečenković warned that the university had become the community’s final institutional safeguard.
“The university is the last line behind which we must not retreat.”
He argued that the announced enforcement of Kosovo’s Law on Foreigners could push the institution toward integration into the Kosovo system.
“Do you want to be foreigners in your own city? At your own university?” he asked fellow students and faculty.
“Understand that those you fear have already abandoned you. The founders of the university have turned their backs on us.”
Citizens: “Even this is hope”
Among those attending was local resident Dragoljub “Bube” Dražević, who reflected on the relatively small turnout.
Quoting Serbian poet Vladislav Petković Dis, he said: “Our generation lives in shame — neither protests nor cries are heard.”
Yet he added that even a small protest could still represent hope.
“Even this is hope,” Dražević said. “These young people — however few — are hope for us older ones.”
Growing activism within the university
The protest comes amid a series of initiatives within the academic community.
The Faculty of Law, University of Priština with temporary seat in Kosovska Mitrovica recently launched a petition demanding that the university remain within Serbia’s education system. Organizers say about 4,000 people have signed it so far.
Faculty members and students also held a public discussion at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, while students recently traveled to Banja Luka.
Meanwhile, an informal group of professors called “Proaktiv,” together with students and colleagues, organized a four-hour forum titled “UPKM — Temporary Seat, Permanent Institution.”
Students from Mitrovica have also asked that the future of the university be debated in the National Assembly of Serbia.
Wider political context
The future of the university has increasingly been linked to broader questions about the integration of Serbian institutions into Kosovo’s system.
Authorities in Pristina, led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, have argued that merging parallel systems is inevitable, saying institutional “dualism” is unsustainable.
Meanwhile, Kosovo is set to fully enforce the Law on Foreigners and the Law on Vehicles from March 15, a move that could complicate the administrative status of employees working in Serbian institutions if they are not registered within the Kosovo system.
According to unofficial information, employees of remaining Serbian institutions in Kosovo — including the university — have been asked to declare whether they possess Kosovo-issued documents.
At the same time, the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Kosovska Mitrovica has received a notice requiring it to vacate the premises it uses within 30 days or regulate its relationship with the University of Pristina.
The university’s rector said he is “waiting for instructions,” while the deadline expires in the coming days.
Political reactions remain divided. The Srpska Lista and other institutional representatives adopted a declaration warning about possible consequences for the Serbian community and calling for legal and administrative safeguards.
At the same time, international actors — including the European Union — have emphasized that any integration process must be carried out in coordination with Kosovo Serbs, while concerns continue to grow among residents about the future of education for young Serbs in Kosovo.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
