Serbs injure over 30 Kosovo policemen in Merdare on Vidovdan

• Serbs injure over 30 Kosovo policemen at Merdare on Vidovdan (dailies)
• “Pilgrims” disrobe from nationalist symbolic (Koha Ditore)
• PDK and Vetëvendosje MPs fight over “SHIK” (dailies)
• Fitou: Red lines, the solution of the north (Epoka e Re)
• Hoxhaj: They lapsed (Express)
• Bajrami: There’s no logic in meeting between Jahjaga and Nikolic (Koha)
• Kurti: Hoxhaj and Kurti ignore the Assembly (dailies)
• Kuçi: Kosovo in the EU after 2020 (Kosova Sot)
• HRW: New code endangers freedom of media (dailies)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Serbs injure over 30 Kosovo policemen in Merdare on Vidovdan (dailies)
All dailies report on the front pages that over 30 members of Kosovo Police were injured yesterday when groups of Serbs started throwing stones at them in the Merdare border crossing point. According to Kosovo Police, the attack took place outside the control point of Kosovo, close to the border point which separates Kosovo from Serbia.

Some eyewitnesses said Serbs tried to get out of buses even before crossing the checkup of documents at Merdare, but they were not allowed. When they passed control, they left their buses and started attacking police with stones and other hard items. “Up to this moment, (midday) based on information we have received from the ground, 32 police officers have been injured,” Kosovo Police spokesman Baki Kelani told the media.

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga condemned the attack against Kosovo Police members by, what she called violent groups of hooligans from the Republic of Serbia, who attempted to enter the territory of Republic of Kosovo without sending a prior notification to Kosovo institutions. “The efforts of these hooligans to enter violently in the territory of Republic of Kosovo will be prevented, because this constitutes a serious violation of rule of law and can lead to the escalation of the security situation in Kosovo. The attack on Kosovo police with hard items and guns is completely intolerable and it is an attack over the constitutional order of Kosovo,” Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga said in a press release.

“Pilgrims” disrobe from nationalist symbolic (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore reports that dozens of rubbish bags were filled on Thursday with nationalist symbols of Serbian pride in Gazimestan. Kosovo police has disrobed the citizens who were carrying on their t-shirts nationalist and provocative symbols for the other communities of Kosovo. Due to the police measures, everything went quietly at the place where Milosevic had proclaimed Kosovo part of Serbia. However, incidents occurred in the streets of Kosovo and at the Merdare border crossing. Dozens of police officers and Serbian citizens received injuries during the incident in Merdare, where the police was attacked as well as during the attack with Molotov cocktail and stones in Pristina to the five buses that were returning Serb pilgrims from Gazimestan and Graçanica.

Many fights occurred between the police members and pilgrims who refused to obey to the orders, however marking of the 623 jubilee of the Battle of Kosovo has not marked any victim, and did not bring to Kosovo leaders of Serbian institutions. The police has stopped extremist groups, while those who reached Gazimestan, had to do through a detailed checking. They requested arms, shouted and recited glory lines for the accused Serbs for war crimes, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. A bus of pilgrims with members of extremist group “Obraz” carried a gigantic flag of another accused by Hague Tribunal, Vojislav Seselj, however the police intervened quickly to throw the flag on the ditch close to the motor way.

Some organized Serbs from Republika Srpska were also disrobed. The police had to intervene with spray against the group that initially tried to resist giving up the symbols which induce interethnic hatred.

The religious ceremony lasted shorter that the other times, without the long speeches and only two politicians, Secretary of the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo, Oliver Ivanovic and DDS deputy leader, Slobodan Samardzic participated.

PDK and Vetëvendosje MPs fight over “SHIK” (dailies)
Most dailies cover on the front pages a fight that broke out yesterday in front of the Kosovo Assembly building between PDK MP Latif Gashi and Vetëvendosje MP Rexhepi Selimi. The fight was reportedly over the former Kosovo Intelligence Service (SHIK). Several minutes later, another bigger fight broke out between PDK MP Bekim Haxhiu and Vetëvendosje MP Florin Krasniqi. Vetëvendosje MPs claim they were provoked, whereas PDK MPs accuse their Vetëvendosje colleagues of hooliganism in the Assembly.

Until the case is sent to the prosecution, parties have been asked to lower the tensions and not encourage street fights between party hardliners. Police investigators and a municipal prosecutor went to the Assembly but the MPs involved in the fight were not interviewed.

Haki Geci, chief prosecutor in Pristina municipality, said he has yet to receive a report from police. “If there are injuries and medical reports then it can be qualified as a criminal act. But if not, it cannot be considered a breach of public order,” Geci said.

Fitou: Red lines, the solution of the north (Epoka e Re)
Epoka e Re runs as the leading front-page story an interview with French Ambassador Jean Francois Fitou, highlighting his remark that a solution for the northern part of Kosovo is possible by respecting the red lines.

“The European Union, we, must determine the red lines, being that we are friends of Kosovo, but at the same time we are not enemies of Serbia or the opposite. What are the red lines? There will be no division. Kosovo’s sovereignty will be respected. All points of the Ahtisaari Plan must be implemented. The Kosovo Government must reach out to its Serb citizens in the north. If we do all this, we will find a solution for the north,” Fitou is quoted as saying.

Fitou also said the Government of Kosovo was doing a good job on the integration of the north but added that it should work even more and say less. “It is important for the Government and the citizens in the north to talk, to have dialogue between the two parties. Fantasies of each party over certain solutions must be set aside. There should be dialogue and the situation in the north must improve,” he added.

Hoxhaj: They lapsed (Express)
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic’s decision to nominate Milosevic’s descendent, Ivica Dacic, as Prime Minister designate of Serbia, is seen by Kosovo authorities as a return by Belgrade to the 1990s, Express reports. Kosovo’s Foreign Affairs Minister Enver Hoxhaj said the Serbian President has sent the worst message to the neighboring countries and to the European Union. “The profile of the Prime Minister designate Dacic, the day and the date of his designation, that is the day of Vidovdan, are the worst messages that Belgrade could send not only to the Republic of Kosovo as a direct neighbor, but to all former Yugoslav countries and the countries of the region, which in 2012 have taken the direction towards integration in the EU,” Hoxhaj said.

Bajrami: There’s no logic in meeting between Jahjaga and Nikolic (Koha)
In an interview for Belgrade-based Danas daily newspaper, Koha Ditore editor-in-chief Agron Bajrami argued that a meeting between Nikolic and Jahjaga would be illogical given that Jahjaga did not even meet former Serbian President Boris Tadic, who was a liberal. “We never heard Nikolic distancing himself from Serbia’s criminal policy vis-a-vis Kosovo. As Dacic, he too was a senior member of the Serbian Government which implemented those policies. Nikolic was deputy prime minister in 1998 and 1999, at the time of the biggest state crimes that Serbia committed against Albanians,” Bajrami was quoted as saying.

Kurti: Hoxhaj and Kurti ignore the Assembly (dailies)
Several dailies report that Albin Kurti, chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, has criticized Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj and chief negotiator Edita Tahiri for ignoring the Assembly as the highest legislative and political institution in the country. Kurti criticized Hoxhaj for failing to provide answers to five issues addressed by the parliamentary committee and accused Tahiri for failing to respond to the invitations of the committee. Express notes that Kurti called Tahiri and Hoxhaj arrogant people.

Kuçi: Kosovo in the EU after 2020 (Kosova Sot)
Kosova Sot quotes former Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuçi as saying that Kosovo cannot hope to join the European Union before 2020. Kuçi said he would be happy if we could enter in the EU after 2020 and if visa liberalization will happen after three years. “In 2004 I stated that I would be happy to join the EU in 2014 and I have been criticized about this. Now I am saying that I would be happy if we could enter the EU after 2020 and I know that I will be criticized. Now I am more free to talk,” Kuçi said.

HRW: New code endangers freedom of media (dailies)
The Human Rights Watch issued a reaction on Thursday saying that the Kosovo Government must make urgent steps in addressing the threat against freedom of media by articles which despite broad opposition remained on the new penal code.

“The Assembly’s failure to address the problematic articles implies that journalists who report on public figures or corruption risk being treated as criminals. The Government must make steps in protecting the freedom of the media and independent journalism in Kosovo,” said Lidia Gall, a HRW reporter on Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Kosovo Press Headlines


Koha Ditore

Front page
• Deputies clash over “SHIK”
• Prosecution starts investigation against “SarrCem”
• Vidovdan’s Government leads Serbia

Other headlines
• Vidovdan Serbs injured over 30 police officers of Kosovo in Merdarë (2)
• Murat Jashari speaks (2)
• Kurti: Hoxhaj and Tahiri are bypassing the Assembly (4)
• Opposition blocks PDK urgency to change the Code (6)
• HRW: The new code risks the freedom of media (6)
• “Ferronikel” announces reduction of staff (7)
• President Topi to visit Kosovo (7)
• Innovative Centre, a possibility to soften unemployment in the country

Zëri

Front page
• Boxing among deputies
• Kosovo in EU after 2020
• The celebration of the joint defeat
• Incidents on “Vidovdan,” 32 police officers injured

Other headlines
• EP investigates Kosovo’s three billion (2)
• Dacic: Calmnes in Kosovo to be assered (2)
• Kosovo and Lichtenstein establish diplomatic relations (2)
• Destabilization in Belgrade’s agenda (3)
• Thaçi: 2012 a historic turn for Kosovo (4)
• Government supports innovation (6)
• Opposition will raise electricity issue at the Assembly (7)


Kosova Sot

Front page
• Fists at the Assembly
• Editorial: Assembly is not an arena of gladiators
• Serb extremists injure 40 police officials
• Shootings at police point in Dobrosin

Other headlines
• State Prosecution and EULEX failed (2)
• Topi to visit Kosovo today (2)
• Kosovo and Lichtenstein establish diplomatic relations (2)
• Kuçi: Kosovo in EU in 2020 (4)
• Articles 37, 38 and 39, remain in power (4)
• Thaçi: 2012 is marking a turn towards EU integration (5)


Epoka e Re

Front page
• Red lines, the solution for the north
• Training according to NATO standards
• Fists for Vidovdan
• 32 police officers injured

Other headlines
• EP investigates expenditure of 3 billion in Kosovo (2)
• Dacic designate for Serbian Government (2)
• Lladrovci: There are injustices on “Kiçina” case (3)
• Thaçi: Way towards stabilization-association is opening (5)
• Kuçi returns to lecturing (5)
• Thaçi: 2012 is marking a turn towards EU integration (5)
• Krasniqi condemns brutal attack against police officers (6)


Express

Front page
• Paradise of gangsters
• Violent “pilgrims”

Other headlines
• Integration of the north through dialogue (4)
• Serbia returned backwards (4)
• Lichtenstein agrees with diplomatic relations (5)
• Kurti accuses Hoxhaj and Tahiri for arrogance (5)
• Do your work (6)
• Kuçi opens up (7)
• Hassle of Vidovdan (8)


Bota Sot

Front page
• Fight against deputies of PDK and Vetëvendosje
• The year 2012 marked a turn towards integrations
• Extremist Serbs enter illegally, shed in blood Kosovo policemen
• Lunacek: Action which encourages Serb propaganda

Other headlines
• President Jahjaga condemns attack towards Kosovo policemen (2)
• Kosovo in the EU after 2020 (3)
• Police takes off the close of Serbs in Gazimestan (3)
• Topi visits Kosovo, “boycotted “from Thaçi (4)
• HRW Articles which endanger the freedom of media (6)
• Dell: Prizren is the best example in Kosovo (7)
• Austria suspends social agreement with Kosovo (7)
• Kosovo and Lichtenstein establish diplomatic relations (7)
• Ambassador Fitou: Kosovo businessmen very important for the future of Kosovo (11)

TAG:
• Ratko Mladiç