The tent erected in front of the municipal building in Leposavic after the events of May last year in the north of Kosovo has been removed. Last week, the mayor of this municipality called on residents to take down the tent. So far, however, it has yet to be confirmed as to who removed it. The Kosovo police claim that were not the ones behind this and that they do not know who did it, Srpska Lista did not react, and the former mayor of Leposavic, Zoran Todić, did not answer our calls last night. On the other hand, an official of the Kosovo government from Leposavic, Radoica Radomirović, claims that the tent was removed „by those who put it up – members of Srpska Lista“.
In late May of last year, special units of the Kosovo Police forcefully entered the municipal buildings in Leposavic, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan, in order to install new mayors, elected in the elections held a month earlier, which were boycotted by the local Serbs.
Employees of the provisional bodies that function in the Serbian system, led by the leaders of SL, started protesting in front of the municipal buildings where they had been working until that point.
In the meantime, tents were set up in all three of these northern municipalities.
Last week, however, media reported, and the news was also officially confirmed for KoSSev, that the mayor of Leposavic sent a request to the citizens to remove the tent put up across the street from the municipal building.
The request was accompanied by a warning that the police would take down the tent if they failed to do so.
A clearly defined deadline for removal was also set, which was repeatedly postponed.
The tent, however, was nowhere to be found as of Sunday morning.
Who removed the tent?
The Kosovo Police said in a statement for KoSSev last night that their officers had nothing to do with the removal of the tent.
„Kosovo police did not remove the tent,“ the deputy commander of the Kosovo police, Veton Elshani, told KoSSev.
Srpska Lista, who led citizens in protests against the occupation of municipal buildings, did not react so far to the removal of the tent.
The former mayor of Leposavic, Zoran Todić, did not answer our calls nor respond to our messages last night.
Radomirović: The tent was removed by SL
The deputy minister in the Kosovo government, Radoica Radomirović, however, claims that this tent was removed by members of SL.
„The tent was not removed by ordinary citizens, it was done by those who put it up – members of Srpska Lista,“ Radomirović told KoSSev.
This resident of Leposavic claims that the tent was removed on Sunday morning around 6:30 am.
He also confirmed that the mayor of Leposavić, Lulzim Hetemi, sent a request for the removal of the tent and that the deadline was postponed several times.
„They had a deadline that was moved to 3:00 p.m. The request to remove the tent was made by the mayor because it is located on a public surface and was really a mockery of the municipality,“ he said.
Radomirovic claims that in the previous period, a maximum of ten people stayed in this tent, namely „former employees of the municipality“.
He described the request to remove the tent as justified because the citizens launched a petition to remove the mayor.
According to Radomirović, with this move „they recognized the mayor and gave him legitimacy.“
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
