Kosovo: 3 hurt in mosque dispute
27 June 2008 | 15:28 | Source: Beta
PRIŠTINA — Two KPS officers and one Serb were injured yesterday during clashes between Albanians and Serbs in the village of Berivojce, police have informed Beta.
Clashes broke out over the building of a mosque in the village.
Priština media report that Serb residents in the ethnically mixed village in the municipality of Kamenica, dissatisfied with the building of the new mosque, barricaded a road leadings towards the construction site.
Ethnic Albanians reacted by removing the barricades, at which point the two sides started throwing stones at each other.
After the incident, police from the town of Gnjilane reacted, and Kosovo Police Service (KPS) spokesman Ismet Hashani said that even after the police arrived, Serbs and Roma continued throwing stones at the Albanians, to which the Albanians responded in kind.
Police intervened, and tried to separate the two sides. Two police officers were injured, one of whom was on duty, while the other had just been passing by.
One Serb was also injured during clashes.
The KPS spokesman added that the police had managed to separate the two sides, and restore order.
Kamenica Municipal President Begzad Sinai held separate meetings with the village residents last night. Today, Sinai is due to meet with Albanian, Serb and Roma representatives.
However, a Serb representative from Borivojce, Boža Stanojevic, accused the KPS of siding with the Albanians, and of attacking several Serbs with cudgels.
Stanojevic told KiM radio that the Serbs had objected to the building of the mosque, because the intended site was where Serbs gathered during the village fair.
“They attacked us with cudgels, and there were several injured. One person was sent to hospital in Vranje. They were provoking us, and tried to break through the barricades we’d set up,” Stanojevic said.
He said that after the talks with the municipal president, the vice president and the KPS, the Serbs were told that construction of the mosque would be put on hold until further notice.
Ir`s very interesting how that happened 2 days before Vidovdan. Tomorrow is the end of route for 2008 Vidovdan march (started 14. of june, from Belgrade to Gazimestan). I hope not another provocation occur tomorrow. It is also interesting that this march is almost ignored in major serbian media.