“Stupidity, deception of the people, nothing more”.
With these words, Sasha from North Mitrovica commented on the pamphlets with the image of the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, with the inscription: “Supreme Commander, we are waiting for you”.
Vucic, as president of Serbia, is considered the supreme commander of the Armed Forces of Serbia. It is within the competence of the president to command the army, but also to appoint, promote and dismiss the officers of the Serbian Armed Forces.
In addition to North Mitrovica, these pamphlets appeared during the weekend in three municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo, Leposaviq, Zveçan and Zubin Potok.
Although the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office has started investigations into this case for “incitement to hatred”, the Kosovo Police have told Radio Free Europe that it is not yet known who is behind that act and that the investigations are continuing but that they cannot give more details.
“Let me tell you, let there be peace. I have no comment about pasted posters”, says Vladani, another citizen of North Mitrovica.
On the other hand, for Branislav, the new posting of pamphlets is “destroying the city”.
Igor believes that the new pamphlets with the image of the president of Serbia can be seen in two ways: as a sarcastic message about the current situation or as a ‘call for revolution’.
“As if something decisive is going to happen now… I don’t have any personal opinion, believe me,” he says.
Sërxhan Simonović from the non-governmental organization “Humani Centar Mitrovica”, which deals with security issues, does not rule out the possibility that the pamphlet is an expression of satire.
On the other hand, Aleksandar Popov, head of the non-governmental Center for Regionalism, emphasizes that the image of the president of Serbia with the message “Commander, we are waiting” has appeared in the north of Kosovo at a time when Serbia is once again threatened by massive environmental protests due to lithium mining.
Therefore, he believes that the purpose of those pamphlets is to “put under the carpet” the current topics in Serbia, which may be negative for the current government, putting the security situation in Kosovo in the foreground.
The North of Kosovo has been shaken by high tensions in the last two years due to the efforts of the Government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti to establish power in that region.
The exchange of Serbian license plates with those of Kosovo, the establishment of a special police unit, the coming to power of Albanian mayors due to the boycott of the elections by the Serbian community, the removal of the Serbian dinar – these are some of the decisions or events that met with resistance from the residents. in the north.
The situation came to a head when an armed group of Serbs led by Millan Radoiçiqi, the former vice-president of the Belgrade-backed Serbian List, attacked the police in the town of Banjska on September 24 last year and killed a policeman, Radio Free Europe reports.
