The first class in schools across Serbia today was dedicated to the March 17, 2004 anti-Serb violence in Kosovo, known in Serbia as "the March pogrom."

On the anniversary of the start of the riots, ministers of education and labor Mladen Sarcevic and Aleksandar Vulin visited the Petar Petrovic Njegos elementary in Belgrade and spoke with eighth grade students there.

"The cause for the pogrom of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija 13 years ago was a horrible lie, that Serbs had forced four Albanian boys to jump into the Ibar (River)," Vulin said.

The real reason behind the violence, he continued, was "the need for no Serbs to be left in Kosovo and Metohija - but when this horrible lie was told, more than 4,000 Serbs were forced out, more than 800 of their homes and 35 religious structures were destroyed."

"It's hard to go back where there is such hatred toward Serbs, where their homes and churches have been torn down - in (the town of) Pec there are now only 12 Serbs," the minister said.

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