Kosovo Police: This is not Serbia; this is Albania

Norwegian journalist Kristian Kahrs travelled with Serbs to Kosovo to record their commemoration of Vidovdan in Gazimestan, Kosovo.  Kahrs returned from Kosovo with a 500 euro fee branded a criminal by authorities for placing a microphone too close to Kosovo police authorities.

This remarkably even-handed account (Kahrs praises the judge and some of the Albanian police for some part of their behaviour) nevertheless paints a bleak picture of Kosovo today.

Because I wanted to pay my respect to the Serbian Vidovdan, I had brought a t-shirt and a hat with the Serbian flag. However, because I knew how sensitive the Kosovo Police was, I put my t-shirt in my suitcase and the hat in my pocket because I had no intention of provoking an incident.

When the Kosovo Police searched me, they threw my t-shirt and hat in the ditch beside the road and said very rudely “This is Albania; this is not Serbia.”

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The police officer who was most active in charging me was in fact the Serbian woman Gordana Grujić with police ID #8097. She works at the Northern Police station in Priština

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Three other Albanian police officers who witnessed against me, shook my hand.  With Gordana Grujić it was different. She refused to shake my hand and said that my apology for being too close with the microphone means nothing. It is quite interesting how a Serbian woman defends the Albanian-dominated state with such fervor.

Kahrs promises to contest this unjust sentence.  Read the fully story here.

The BBC report of the incident show that Priština authorities are not apologetic for the behaviour of their police (three Serbs had gunshot wounds inflicted by Kosovo police after claims that stones were thrown at them).  Instead of issuing a statement promising to crackdown on those who threw Molitov cocktails at Serbs…

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga said future groups would be banned “as they are seriously violating law and order and further exacerbating the security situation in Kosovo”.

You can watch a video showing some of this dehumanising  behaviour here (the clip is preceded by an ad).