Serbia today remembers the
pogroms of 20 years ago against the Serb population in Kosovo, a
vicious wave of violence and destruction that resulted in
casualties, injuries and thousands of refugees, in what Belgrade
continues to this day to denounce as a clear and lucid plan of
ethnic cleansing against Serbs. President Aleksandar Vucic did
so, receiving a group of Serbian students from Kosovo today, to
whom he told them that the violence and abuse against Serbs
still continues today with the same determination and cruelty.
"Dear young people, you come from all parts of Kosovo, our
Serbia, welcome to another part of our Serbia. Thank you for
being here with us today in Belgrade, today on the 20th
anniversary of the terrible pogroms against the Serbian
population, pogroms that are still continuing today with the
same conviction and cruelty. Even the methods are not much
different, and with the same staunch support as those who bombed
us in 1999," Vucic said speaking to the Kosovo Serb youth. The
reference is to the NATO raids decided in the spring of 1999
against Serbia, which ended the Kosovo War. The anniversary of
the beginning of those bombings will be commemorated next week.
"You must know that this is your only country, you must know
that you have only one capital city, which is Belgrade, and I
hope you will be able to see, admire and love other parts of
your homeland, Serbia," the president added. Igniting tempers on
March 17, 2004, was the tragic death of three ethnic Albanian
Kosovar boys who drowned in the Ibar River.
According to local Albanian media at the time, the three had
been chased and threatened by Serbian peers and basically
forced, in order to escape the violence, to jump into the river
where they later met their deaths.This version was always
strongly rejected by Belgrade, which called it an artfully
mounted pretext to justify the hatred and anti-Serb fury
unleashed later.Within a couple of days a thousand Serb homes
were indiscriminately attacked and set on fire, 35 Orthodox
churches and monasteries were destroyed, and everything with a
Serb connotation was torn down.The dead totaled some 20 on both
sides, over 4,000 Serbs were forced to leave their places of
origin, with ethnic cleansing affecting some 15 large and small
localities.On the 20th anniversary of these dramatic events,
commemorative events and ceremonies are being planned throughout
Serbia and among the Serb population of Kosovo.President Vucic
will attend an official ceremony in the evening at the National
Theater in Belgrade.
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