Çlirim Haziri, the son of fallen Kosovo war fighter Xhavit Haziri, has called on citizens to continue expressing their opposition to Wednesday’s Hague verdict with determination and dignity, while urging protesters not to attack the Kosovo Police or the country’s institutions.
Addressing citizens gathered in Prishtina, Haziri said protests would continue and that people would not remain silent over what he described as an unjust verdict. At the same time, he stressed that the protest should not be directed against Kosovo’s institutions.
“We will stay here, we will protest and we will not remain silent. But we will not attack the Kosovo Police and we will not attack our institutions,” Haziri said.
He also urged protesters not to wear masks or conceal their identities during demonstrations.
“Take off the masks. The KLA was without masks. We are also without masks. We do not hide. We protest openly and with dignity,” he said.
Haziri said citizens could publicly defend what they consider to be the truth about the Kosovo Liberation Army’s war without undermining public order or the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.
He called for restraint toward Kosovo Police officers, emphasizing that the protesters’ opposition was directed at the Hague verdict rather than at Kosovo’s institutions.
“These are our institutions. They are the institutions of Kosovo, created through great sacrifice and with the blood of those who fell. We are here to defend the KLA, not to harm Kosovo,” Haziri said.
He said protests and other civic activities would continue in the coming days, while calling for them to remain peaceful and dignified.
“We will not remain silent and we will not surrender, but we will protest as befits a people who know what they sacrificed for their freedom,” Haziri said.
The remarks came after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague issued its first-instance verdict against former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi. The verdicts can be appealed.
