Posted on 03/18/2004 10:06:09 AM PST by konijn
Fires set in southern Mitrovica | 18:36 | Beta
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Thursday – Albanians in Kosovska Mitrovica this afternoon set fire to the Church of St Sava. The fire followed another in the Serbian Orthodox church’s residential premises and a grass fire in the Orthodox cemetery in the southern part of the town.
The church, which is also in the southern, Albanian zone of the segregated town, was protected by Greek KFOR troops.
Earlier today a large group of Albanians broke through a police cordon in the south part of the town and began to move towards the north, but were dispersed by police and KFOR troops.
Serbs, including the head of Belgrade’s Kosovo Coordination Centre, Nebojsa Covic, have assembled on the northern bank of the Ibar River to watch events in the southern part of the town.
The bridge on the Ibar which divides the town is blocked with UN combat vehicles.
Albanians “torching houses in Svinjare” | 18:46 | Beta
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Thursday – Hundreds of Albanians are reported to have descended on the village of Svinjare, outside Mitrovica, this afternoon and begun setting fire to Serb-owned houses.
Journalists have been unable to reach the town because of the UNMIK blockade of the bridge in Mitrovica.
Prizren monastery razed | 17:43 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Thursday – The monastery of St Michael the Archangel and the Church of the Mother of God in Prizren have been destroyed by fire in the rioting which broke out in the town yesterday.
Kosovo Coordination Centre official Branislav Krstic told journalists today that the churches of the Holy Saviour and St Djordje near Prizren have also been damaged by fire, together with the premises of the Prizren Diocese and Seminary.
Monks from the monastery were evacuated to a German military base, after which the building was razed, said Krstic, adding that the situation was still unclear because there are no Serbs remaining in Prizren to provide reliable information.
The headquarters of the Raska-Prizren Archdiocese, the nearby Gracanica Monastery is under heavy KFOR protection and is believed to be safe, he added.
Obilic emptied of Serbs | 15:40 | B92
OBILIC -- Thursday – The Kosovo town of Obilic, near Pristina, has been completely evacuated of Serbs, B92 reports.
A local Serb said all Serb houses in the town had been set on fire by groups of ethnic Albanians.
Mirce Jakovljevic told B92:
“There are no more Serbs in Obilic. They are all in Plemetina now. Cerska Street, where the massacred Stolic family lived, is ablaze. All 15 Serb houses are on fire. Hooligans are now heading towards Plemetina. There are no KFOR forces at all, and only small number of UN forces showed up. They’re located around Albanian houses in Plemetina and they openly say they have come to defend them, I don’t know from whom. That’s why I fear clashes between Serbs and the UN. I appeal to our state to put pressure on KFOR to somehow give us weapons to defend ourselves. We have nowhere else to evacuate to.”
Serb church and houses on fire in Obilic | 12:10 | Reuters, AP
OBILIC -- Thursday – A Serbian Orthodox church was in flames in an ethnically mixed Kosovo town on Thursday, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.
The municipality building and several Serb houses were also burning in Obilic, northwest of the provincial capital Pristina.
NATO-led peacekeepers and Kosovo police blocked Obilic city centre with armoured vehicles, standing about 50 metres (164 ft) from a crowd of Albanians. There were no clashes, but the situation was tense.
Widespread clashes in the UN-run province on Wednesday killed at least 22 people and injured hundreds.
Some hundred Serbs were evacuated from their buildings in the center of the capital Pristina and other communities by police and NATO-led peacekeepers, Associated Press reports. Some of the apartments and cars left behind by the Serbs were torched by arsonists.
New violence in Lipljan | 18:20 | B92
LIPLJAN -- Thursday – A group of Albanians attempted to set fire to a Serb house in the centre of Lipljan, municipal official Borivoje Vignjevic said today.
Vignjevic told B92 that Finnish KFOR troops responded swiftly to prevent an incident.
A number of Albanians were arrested, while other got away, he said, adding that tonight would be dangerous because no one knew what violence could be perpetrated under cover of darkness.
Priest says Serbs being killed in their homes | 14:01 | B92, Beta
OBILIC -- Thursday – A Serbian priest in Kosovo has told B92 that Serbs are being killed in their homes in Obilic, just outside the Kosovo capital Pristina.
“The situation is alarming,” said Father Sava of the Visoki Decani monastery.
Beta reports that a number of Serbs have been injured after the town was attacked by a group of Albanians, who broke into Serb homes and set them on fire.
The Albanians are reported to be heading towards the ethnically-mixed village of Plemantina, where some 1,000 Serbs live. UN police and NATO-led troops are blocking the access road to the village.
Fourteen Serb churches in Kosovo destroyed | 16:15 | B92
PRISTINA -- Thursday – Fourteen Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo have been destroyed, the Raska-Prizren Eparchy has said, in a wave of violence that erupted yesterday in the province.
The oldest of the churches dates back to the 12th century.
At least 22 dead in Kosovo violence | 11:07 | Beta
PRISTINA -- Thursday – At least 22 people were killed and some 500 wounded yesterday, a United Nations police spokesman has confirmed, after the worst violence between Kosovo Serbs and Albanians in almost five years under UN protection.
Derek Chappell said that so far 22 bodies had been found, but the death toll could rise.
The situation is calm across the province, he told Beta news agency, adding that cars were on the streets and shops were open.
The spokesman insisted an investigation was ongoing into how two Albanian boys drowned in the Ibar River near Kosovska Mitrovica. Television reports said they had died after being chased into the river by a group of Serb youths, prompting clashes between Serbs and Albanians in the town.
Serb church on fire in southern Mitrovica, shots fired | 13:51 | Beta, Reuters
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Thursday – A section of the Serbian orthodox St Sava Church in southern Kosovska Mitrovica has been set ablaze by ethnic Albanians, Beta reports.
A large group of Albanians had earlier broken through a UN police cordon in a bid to cross the bridge into the northern predominantly Serb half of the town.
Police and international peacekeepers managed to regroup and block their path, firing rubber bullets and teargas. A Reuters journalist also reported hearing gunshots.
The accommodation quarters of the St Sava Church were reported to be on fire. Large numbers of Serbs are said to be gathered on the other side of the river, accompanied by the head of Belgrade’s Kosovo coordinator, Nebojsa Covic.
Is there any way
we in the West can sort out
these conflicting claims?
Passions are so hot
on both sides that both sides seem
to play up reports
that affirm their views.
Do those of you who follow
this part of the world
have this or that source
you'd recommend as being
mainly objective?
We don't even have one of those in the United States, any more. It's getting almost impossible to believe anything in print.
No other media can offer this, there is always a possibility someone is misleadign you.
As of drowning incident, UN police has already provided statement that Serbs did not chase Albanian kids into the river.
It is only one of many lies terrorist shills in media spread.
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