Posted on 01/22/2004 11:53:23 AM PST by joan
ERP KIM Info Service
January 21, 2004, Gracanica (21:15)
Brother Bojan Dejanovic of the Monastery of Holy Archangels near Prizren confirmed for the ERP KIM today that two minibuses with KFOR military markings and one German military transporter (APC) were attacked by a group of some 30 young Kosovo Albanians throwing snowballs and iceballs while a television crew from ARD German state television was filming the ruins of the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in the center of Djakovica.
According to Dejanovic , who was in one of the military minibuses with monk Prochorus, the vehicle was first approached by an Albanian woman who began to scream and curse. Since it was about 15,10, when there are still plenty of people in the street, a group of some 30 younger Kosovo Albanians soon gathered who made a lot of noise and began to verbally attack the monks and German soldiers with the most vulgar expressions. They then began to pound on the chassis and windows of the vehicle using their feet and hands, and to throw balls of frozen snow. The German soldiers noticed that during the furious attack one of the bumpers of the minibus was almost broken off (see photo left), which was later repaired.
In the meanwhile, the horrified ARD German state television crew, which had been filming the nearby ruins of the Serbian Orthodox church blown up by the Albanians in the summer of 1999, frightened out of its wits, jumped into one of the vehicles and the entire column raced at breakneck speed as far as the Italian military base a few hundred meters away. Several civilian passenger vehicles of angry Albanians immediately set out after the KFOR vehicles and stopped only when the two minibuses and the German transporter literally crashed through the ramp of the Italian KFOR military base, stated Brother Bojan Dejanovic of Holy Archangels Monastery, an eyewitness of the incident.
The ARD German state television crew has been visiting Kosovo and Metohija for the past several days and planned, among other things, to visit several Serb enclaves and monasteries. After staying at the Holy Archangels Monastery, the crew visited Visoki Decani Monastery in the morning in two military minibuses and one armored transporter. Upon returning to Prizren the TV crew planned to film the ruins of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Djakovica, as well as to visit five Serb old ladies living in complete isolation and with daily Albanian terror for five years under the constant protection of Italian soldiers. However, as a result of the incident which almost ended in a public lynching and in keeping with KFOR's security rules, the ARD crew, the monks and the German soldiers immediately set out for Prizren. The monks from Holy Archangels were transferred to German KFOR combat transporter for greater security (see photo below).
The entire incident was recorded by ARD cameras and the ERP KIM Info Services hopes that these clips of savage and uncivilized behavior by the Albanians, who as we can see will not spare even those who express only an interest in the persecution of the Serbs, will be shown to the German and global public.
This incident in Djakovica occurred only two weeks after the stoning of an UNMIK bus with Russian humanitarians in Decani in which the windows on one of the buses was broken, which was recorded by Russian state television cameras and shown to the Russian public together with a larger stone that remained in the bus.
Since all similar incidents to date in which KFOR soldiers have been targeted in Albanian attacks have been regularly covered up or minimized, the ERP KIM Info Service sincerely hopes that the German KFOR spokesperson who was personally present during this incident will confirm what Dejanovic said, as well as that the police will conduct an investigation of this incident. After numerous attempts to establish telephone contact with the press officer of German KFOR, lieutenant colonel Klaus Ehlers, the ERP KIM Info Service team could not get anyone to answer the phone at the telephone number printed on that officer's business card which worked normally until today.
(The program on Kosovo and Metohija being filmed by ARD TV is scheduled to be broadcast in its entirety on April 18.)
For direct telephone contact with eyewitnesses, please note the following numbers:
Bojan Dejanovic, Holy Archangels Monastery, Prizren: 029 41 231 (regular PTT connection)
Lieutenant colonel (press officer) Klaus Ehlers: + 377 44 501 439 (Alcatel mobile)
Yes, the violence could be prevented if those in control of Kosovo - the international community and forces - wished. However, they favor the Albanians and allow them to terrorize the ethnic minorities and destroy their religious and cultural monuments with impunity. Occasionally, the Albanians will be temporarily detained or lectured on their behavior, but it is all limp-wristed and phoney, as the international community is set on making Kosovo purely Albanian, with just a few tokens of multiculturalism - a few Serbs, a few churches, gyspies, etc. - "protected" by barbed wire.
Not sure how they did this -- perhaps they each grabbed a foot or arm and used 'em like a battering ram?
I think they were Rocket-Propelled Serbian Orthodox monks. (The old RPSOMs)
SD
Do you know any specifics of these stories? What happened and when they left? What village or cities in Kosovo did they live in? When did things start getting bad in Kosovo for them - 1997, 1998...? Did they witness any killings by Albanians or Serbs?
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