Violence forces Serb returnees to flee from Kosovo
Four Serb returnees have left the village of Zac in Kosovo and moved back to central Serbia after they were attacked once again on Tuesday night.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, April 23, 2010
The 26 families that returned to their destroyed property in the village also had their tents pelted with stones on previous occasions, while local ethnic Albanians staged several days of protests against their return.
Two tent camps housing the IDPs were stoned on Tuesday at about 22:30 CET, after which the families spent a sleepless night paroling in front of their tents.
The returnees told news agency Tanjug that they believe it was ethnic Albanians that pelted stones at them.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) condemned the stoning of Serbian families who have returned to the village of Zac and demanded that perpetrators be punished.
Head of the UNHCR representative office in Serbia Eduard Arboleda said that all displaced persons in Kosovo have the right to return home and that they do not have to ask anyone's permission
Serbian Ministry for Kosovo condemned the stoning of the tents housing Serb IDP returnees.
This act of vandalism is a direct effort to prevent the return of IDPs to their homes after a decade in exile, the ministry announced
Meanwhile in Pristina, the Kosovo Albanian government also condemned the incident.
"This is an intolerable cowardly act," the government said in a release.
The government urged municipal authorities to "immediately take measures to guarantee safety to the returnees and take the attackers to justice".
