Mass protest held in Pristina against land swap with Serbia

By bne IntelliNews September 30, 2018

Thousands of people took to the streets in the Kosovan capital Pristina on September 29 to protest against a possible exchange of territories between Serbia and Kosovo. 

Protests were organised by the opposition Vetevendosje party against President Hashim Thaci's idea for what he called a border correction with Serbia. Thaci spoke about the idea that would result in the unification of Sebia’s Presevo Valley with Kosovo. At the same time Serbia officials raised the possibility of Serbia taking the Mitrovica region in northern Kosovo, populated mainly with Serbs, in exchange for the Presevo Valley. 

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Belgrade in 2008, but is still not recognised by Belgrade as a separate state. The normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, for which EU-mediated talks are underway, is critical for the two countries’ EU integration processes. A land swap was considered a possible way of reaching a deal, but there is strong opposition to the idea within Kosovo. 

The protest, which was calm and without incidents, started at the National Library and continued to Skenderbeg square in downtown Pristina, where party’s officials and participants held speeches, broadcaster RTK reported.

Holding banners and national flags, protestors chanted “No bargaining with national land!"

Vetevendosje’s leader Albin Kurti said that they will not allow border correction or partition of Kosovo.

The opposition fears that Kosovo will lose its Serb-dominated northern part where strategic facilities like Gazivode lake and a dam are located, as well as the Trepca mining complex. Kurti also blamed the government for corruption and called for early elections.

Earlier on September 29, Thaci made a rare visit to the northern lake Gazivode in an area populated mainly with Serbs.

After Kosovo’s special police units, ROSU, were deployed in the area to secure Thaci's visit, the Serbian government decided to put its security forces on highest alert, raising tension in the region.

The Serbian authorities claim that Kosovan special units have arrested Serbs in northern Kosovo without any reasons.

“The presence of ROSU in northern Kosovo is against all international agreements as they have no right to enter that area,” the director of Serbia’s office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Gjuric, said.

Gjuric said in the statement that ROSU members, heavily armed, attacked took control of the area around the lake in order to “allow Thaci to walk freely and to make a boat tour of the Lake Gazivode”.

“In order to do this, they had to remove all and arrest everyone from the road. At the Center for Ecology and Sport Development, they tied people up and made arrests with the aim of scaring Serbian people in Kosovo,” Gjuric said.

He stressed that Serbia has warned the authorities in Pristina and the international community that it won’t tolerate aggression against Serb people in northern Kosovo or any form of violence against them.

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