While messages of peace, love and dignity from Bishop Ilarion could be heard at Gazimestan on Vidovdan, June 28, heavily armed special units of the Pristina police, armored vehicles and metal barriers surrounded the memorial complex. The contrast between the prayer inside the complex and the display of force outside it remained etched in the memory of Tijana Ivkovi\u0107, a Serbian woman born and raised in Sweden, who wrote about it for the Swedish portal \u201cSamnytt\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ivkovi\u0107 did not travel to Kosovo and Metohija in search of a sensation, but with the intention of seeing how the Serbian people today live in a territory about which European institutions have for years spoken in the language of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. At Gazimestan, she encountered families, young people, elderly people and children who had come to pray, lay flowers and pay tribute to their ancestors. For them, this was not a political stage, but a place of faith, remembrance and a sacred covenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, identification checks, searches and the directing of visitors through narrow passages created, according to her account, an atmosphere of constant surveillance. At the entrance, leaflets were distributed warning about supposedly \u201cprovocative\u201d symbols, but the criteria were not sufficiently clear. What passed without consequences for one person could become a reason for another to be stopped or detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the gathering, 36 people were detained, including, according to media reports and lawyers, minors. Particular attention was drawn to the case of a 12-year-old girl, who witnesses claimed was detained after crossing herself and showing three fingers. Those arrested were issued fines, while some people without documents issued by the temporary institutions in Pristina were given three-year entry bans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ivkovi\u0107 also points to an obvious discrepancy between calls from international representatives for lawful, proportionate and non-discriminatory conduct and the scenes she encountered on the ground. While Serbian national and religious symbols were viewed with suspicion, Albanian flags and insignia of the so-called KLA flew freely along the roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The text published in \u201cSamnytt\u201d does not stop with Vidovdan. The author describes the everyday life of Serbian enclaves, graffiti glorifying the so-called KLA, desecrated cemeteries, attacks on young men and the fear of publicly displaying Serbian symbols. She also recalls the case of Dragica Ga\u0161i\u0107, the first Serbian returnee to \u0110akovica, who after returning was subjected to pressure, break-ins and attempts to prevent her from living a normal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Metohija, Ivkovi\u0107 emphasizes, is not merely a geographical term, but an area containing the Patriarchate of Pe\u0107, Visoki De\u010dani and the Church of the Virgin of Ljevi\u0161a \u2013 holy sites that represent the foundations of Serbian spiritual and cultural identity. Precisely for this reason, her text, published in Swedish, represents a rare and direct account of the Serbian perspective in the Swedish media space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question she raises is directed not only at Pristina, but also at the European Union, EULEX and other international representatives: do the same standards apply to everyone? If a Serb has no right to cross himself, carry a flag and pay tribute to his ancestors without fear of being treated as a security threat, then European promises of equality and freedom remain without any real substance. Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are not seeking privileges, but the right to identity, faith, dignity and equal protection under the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read the original text HERE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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