Over a thousand protesters took part in a protest today near the Bistrica Bridge on the Mitrovica – Leposavić road, demanding the withdrawal of all special police units from the north. A petition with the same demand was launched today, to be distributed for signatures throughout northern municipalities in the coming days.
Special forces of the Kosovo police have maintained a checkpoint on the Bistrica Bridge since December last year, where M.J., a Serb from Žerovnica, was wounded two days ago. It has now been confirmed that he was shot by a member of this unit, although the police initially denied their involvement in the incident. The Police Inspectorate of Kosovo suspended four police officers and ordered them to be detained for 48 hours, and one of them is charged with attempted murder.
Local residents headed towards this bridge as part of a march organizaed earlier today and led by the family of the wounded Serb, along with the leaders of Srpska Lista. Two police cordons were installed to stop them, but the protesters bypassed the first one, almost without incident. While the first cordon was composed of regular police units, the next, placed directly next to the Bridge, was manned by members of the special forces.
In a conversation with police officers, the spouse of the individual injured in the shooting demanded that the policemen allow her to go to the spot where her husband was shot on Monday evening. She repeatedly emphasized that her husband is innocent, and a man devoted to his family.
She used similar words while previously invited for the rally via her FB Page.
The leaders of Srpska Lista joined the discussion with the policemen, also with the request that the protesters be allowed to continue their way forward. They emphasized that it was a peaceful protest.
On the other hand, the police officers replied that they were only carrying out orders – to stop the protesters at least 300 meters from where the special units were positioned.
Saying that „We’re going, so you shoot“, the wife of the injured M.J led the column across the first cordon afterwords.
This whole event unfolded peacefully, and it ended about an hour and a half later, right after the first few tens of citizens signed the petition on the spot.
During the protest, traffic was halted, while several KFOR and EULEX patrols monitored the situation, which included helicopter surveillance.
In the meantime, international and Serbian reactions and condemnations of the shooting of the villager from Žerovnica are pouring in. On the Kosovo side, for now, the condemnation came only from the minister of justice, and only after a KIM radio journalist directly posed her a question at a press conference after today’s government session in Pristina.
On the other hand, at the government meeting itself, that same media outlet reported that there was not a single mention of incident on the Bistrica bridge.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
