Members of the Albanian community in Texas held a protest outside the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Monday, voicing opposition to the verdict issued by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague against four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders and expressing support for Kosovo’s wartime struggle.
Participants carried the flags of the United States, Kosovo and Albania, as well as banners bearing messages including “Not in My Name” and “Freedom Has a Name: KLA.”
Speakers at the protest included Visar Visoka, president of the Albanian-American Community in Texas; KLA veteran Ekrem Hyseni; former community president Nazar Mehmeti; Bruno Ceka; Ruzhdi Halili; Agim Halili; and Gino Mulliqi, deputy mayor of the City of Wylie.
The speakers described the verdict as unjust, expressed confidence in the ongoing appeals process and called for greater unity among Albanian political actors in Kosovo and the diaspora in addressing what they described as the need to protect the historical narrative surrounding Kosovo’s 1998–99 war.
