BELGRADE – Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) and Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) reporters have been attacked during ethnic Albanian protests in Pristina.
In Saturday’s demonstrations in central Pristina, the ethnic Albanian protesters demanded the dismissal of Aleksandar Jablanovic, Kosovo’s minister for return and communities, and a law converting Trepca Mines into a public enterprise that would be controlled by Pristina.
The Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and its branch, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo-Metohija (DNKiM), vehemently condemned the attack on a RTK2 crew and a RTS cameraman, as well as the manhandling they were subjected to while reporting from the protest.
“The UNS and the DNKiM request that police authorities and Eulex take all necessary measures and find the perpetrators of the attack on the RTK2 crew and the RTS cameraman and prevent new attempts to attack media workers in Kosovo,” the UNS said in a statement.
At the rally, staged in protest against Jablanovic – a Kosovo government minister representing the Srpska list – and the situation in the Trepca Combine, RTK 2 reporters Aleksandra Jovanovic and Bojan Kosanin and RTS cameraman Vladimir Milic were physically attacked, manhandled and provoked, the UNS said.
It all happened in central Pristina, outside the building of the Ministry of Culture – we were sworn at, threatened, dragged around and pelted by stones, said Kasanin, a UNS member.
Milic said that a masked protester attempted to snatch his camera away from him.
“He had a white cap with a ‘Kosovo Liberation Army’ emblem, and a scarf across his face with the Albanian flag on it,” he told the UNS.
The rally in Pristina was organized by the Self-Determination Movement and the Mothers’ Appeal Association, with the support of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, the Initiative for Kosovo and students of Pristina University.
After the rally ended, a group of protesters pelted the government building and broke the glass in some of the windows, prompting a police intervention which included the use of tear gas.
