Kosovo Polje: EULEX Pelted With Stones, One Arrested
The Pristina protest continued with a march to EULEX in Kosovo Polje, where the building was hit with stones and bottles. One person was arrested, police in The Hague dispersed protesters with water.
The EULEX headquarters in Kosovo Polje was pelted with stones and bottles on the afternoon of September 16, hours after the Specialist Chambers in The Hague handed down a first-instance verdict against four former commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. One person was arrested, though by evening police had released neither the person’s identity nor the reason for the arrest.
The verdict that triggered the march
The court sentenced Hashim Thaçi and Jakup Krasniqi to 25 years in prison each, Kadri Veseli to 18 years, and Rexhep Selimi to 13 years. According to the verdict summary, all four were found guilty of the war crimes of unlawful arrest and detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder, while being acquitted of the crimes against humanity counts in the indictment. The verdict was delivered by presiding judge Charles Smith, who used the phrase “in the name of the people of Kosovo,” a formulation that, according to KoSSev, quickly spread across social media afterward as the slogan “Not in my name.”
Some of the people who had followed the verdict on Skanderbeg Square in central Pristina set off on foot toward the EULEX headquarters in Kosovo Polje. Sources differ on the scale of the march: KoSSev, citing Albanian media, reports that several thousand people headed to the building, including war veterans and younger demonstrators carrying Kosovo Liberation Army and Albanian flags, while N1 writes that only a smaller part of the crowd from the square marched on EULEX. According to reports cited by KoSSev, the first demonstrators reached the mission’s headquarters around 1:30 p.m., the situation escalated at 2:28 p.m., and news of the arrest was published at 2:47 p.m.
Stones and bottles outside EULEX
A special unit of the Kosovo Police had been deployed in front of the compound. Unable to reach the building itself, masked demonstrators pulled back from the entrance and threw objects at it from a distance. N1 reports that several windows were broken in the process, while KoSSev adds that bottles were also thrown, accompanied by chants of “Besa, Besë.” One person was arrested, and according to available reports, there is no data on any injuries.
Part of the crowd later returned to central Pristina and gathered in front of the government building, which, according to the Nova.rs portal, was also pelted with stones, while a large number of people remained in the area behind the EULEX headquarters.
Tension in The Hague too
Tensions were also recorded that same day outside the Specialist Chambers building in The Hague, where supporters of the four convicted men had been gathering since morning, some having arrived the previous evening. Dutch police used water to push them back from the area around the court, and footage published by Albanian media also shows several demonstrators climbing onto police vehicles and hitting them before the situation was brought under control.
The north stayed calm
The Kosovo Police had already announced on September 14 that it had prepared a special security plan for the day of the verdict and had held coordination meetings with KFOR, the EULEX mission, and representatives of the US embassy, the EU Office and the OSCE. The European Union called for restraint.
North of the Ibar, the picture was entirely different. North Mitrovica remained calm, with a highly visible presence of the Kosovo Police along the main promenade and at other points in the city, where nearly the entire command staff of the regional police directorate for the north was present for hours. Deputy regional commander Veton Elshani told KoSSev that the operational plan was being carried out as planned and that police had not prevented anyone from passing through. Srpske Vesti had reported ahead of the verdict that the Kosovo Police had canceled employees’ regular leave because of it.
Calls for calm
AAK (Alliance for the Future of Kosovo) leader Ramush Haradinaj, who called the verdict unacceptable and unjust, urged citizens not to turn their discontent into violence.
“If we destroy Kosovo, we are helping the enemies.”
Shenol Muharemi reacted in similar terms, stressing that the protest should not turn into vandalism.
“We must be very careful not to turn anger and disappointment into actions that bring no result except harm to Kosovo. Protest, express your outrage, and then go home. Keep the peace. Do not vandalize, and do not fall for provocations.”
According to him, the fight should now continue through legal channels, through arguments and an appeal.
Today’s protests are a continuation of the mobilization that culminated in the “March for Freedom,” held on September 12 in Pristina in support of the four former Kosovo Liberation Army commanders. The verdict is a first-instance ruling, so it remains an open question whether the appeals process, which both Haradinaj and Muharemi mention as the next step, will shift the energy from the street to the courtroom, or whether the tension outside the headquarters of international missions in Kosovo will continue in the days ahead.
