It is high time to stop those terrorizing returnees in the municipality of Istok since beginning of this year. I urge the Kosovo police to protect the Serbs in returns sites in Istok municipality, while robberies and attacks against returnees must stop immediately, Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communities and Returns, Dalibor Jevtic said yesterday, Serbian media reported.

Kosovo Ministry for Communities and Returns, reacting to the latest wave of arson affecting haystacks belonging to the Serb returnees in Kosovo said that “such incidents indicate continuation of pressure against returnees to abandon their properties and show they are not welcome in Kosovo, which is very bad, RTV Puls reported.

The Ministry further assessed these incidents were not accidental and if someone wishes that  Serbs give up return it is not going to happen, adding they would work harder to have more returnees in Kosovo in 2018.

Huge quantity of haystacks was set on fire last night, owned by Milorad Dubic in the village of Suvi Lukavac in Istok municipality, RTK2 reported today.

Police and firefighters responded to the scene, but did not manage to preserve the haystacks.

This is the second incident in the last couple of days, in which haystacks prepared for cattle, over the winter time, are set on fire in the returns’ sites in Klina and Istok municipalities.

Milorad Dubic came back to his place of origin, Suvi Lukavac in 2003, along with fifteen Serb families.

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo Deputy Director, Dusan Kozarev, said that even incidents that might appear minor as cattle thefts or burning of haystakes belonging to the Serbs in Kosovo, demand a decisive action, foremost that of the international community, as such attacks always aim to create an environment of uneasiness and fear, Tanjug news agency reported.

Since Saturday, wildfire has affected the Osojane Valley (first organized return site in Kosovo). Wildfire that the firefighters and Serb returnees are fighting for the three days come from several directions.

Firefighters together with returnees managed to extinguish the wildfire that came from the direction of a deserted village Poljane, spread along Tucep-Osojane villages’ line, and was active since Saturday.

However, the new wildfire appeared on another side of the village.