Radio KIM reported that in the night between Friday and Saturday, unknown vandals have broken down, destroyed or demolished more than 20 tombstones at the Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Lipljan town.

Since the arrival of the international community in Kosovo and Metohija, this Orthodox cemetery became the target of vandalism in several occasions, Radio KIM recalled.

“We came to the cemetery this Saturday, as we always do, and we saw that more than 20 tombstones were demolished. We called the police, that was the only thing we could do, and you can see yourself what was done here. It used to happen before, they demolished tombstones closer to the road. This time they went further and demolished more than 20 tombstones, and at one they even defecated,” leader of the Serb community in Lipljan, Jovica Miric said.

Remaining Serbs in the town interpret this act against their deceased relatives, friends and co-citizens as a direct message that they are not welcome here.

Zoran Radic, Serb representative in Lipljan municipality said “Serbs have nothing to expect, if deceased persons bother someone. This is a message that they do not want co-existence with us, and that there is no future for us here.”

Kosovo police came to the spot and opened the investigation. “We came to the spot with patrol and the rest of the unit, we carried out the investigation. All relevant units were present, and we assessed that around 19 tombstones were demolished,” police officer Metush Jashari said, TV Most reported. It added, the officer said the police is working on the case and “has some information”.