Large rally in support of those arrested in Gračanica: "The Serbian people will choose the right side"

The protest was attended by employees of hospitals, health centers, and schools, as well as citizens, who said they wanted to show unity in this way.

“It has never been harder, but it has also never been more beautiful to be a Serb in Kosovo. The Serbian people will choose the right side,” said Dušan Ćirković from Dobrotin.

Miloš Rašić from Dobrotin emphasized that Serbs are determined to survive, but are facing great pressure.

“I came to support my Serbian people, who for centuries have struggled and fought to survive and remain in these homes. We endure various pressures and injustices from Albin Kurti and others. We are who we are — persistent — and we want to stay and survive in our homes, regardless of everything they have done to us and are doing today. But this truly goes beyond every limit, when someone is denied existence and the right to live. We Serbs are indeed a heavenly people, we truly are, but for someone to terrorize and abuse us in this way, to arrest us, throw us into their prisons, and deny us freedom of speech and rights,” Rašić said.

Ljubiša Nedeljković called on the Republic of Serbia to stop what he described as terror against Serbs in Kosovo.

“I see no reason why they behave so arrogantly toward our people. The fact that we gathered in such large numbers is proof that we want to support our directors in education and healthcare, because we believe we have been wronged. I ask the Republic of Serbia to do everything in its power to stop this terror against Serbs,” Nedeljković said.

Representatives of local municipalities also attended the protest.

Earlier today, protests were also held in front of the “Braća Aksić School” school in Lipljan and in front of the Health Center in Gračanica.

Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla said last night that seven people had been arrested in Gračanica who, according to him, “tried to influence the free will of voters through threats, pressure, and blackmail.”

The director of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, said that the detention of directors of Serbian educational and healthcare institutions in central Kosovo, allegedly ordered by Albin Kurti, was an attempt by Pristina to exert unacceptable pressure and intimidate Serbian voters in the area in order, as he said, for Kurti to “push through his favorite, Nenad Rašić, in the upcoming elections.”

The arrests were condemned by the Serb List, while party presidency member Igor Simić said that the operation was aimed at intimidating Serbs, and that Rašić, by targeting “honorable Serb men and women,” had “enabled and brought Kurti’s police” into Serbian educational and healthcare institutions.