The Mayor of Gračanica municipality, Srđan Popović visited
Lipljan today and estimated the demolition of over twenty
gravestones at the Orthodox cemetery as vandalism.
"This is something which should not even be thought about, let
alone happen in the 21 st century. It is especially difficult that all
this is happening in Lipljan because we know what all this
municipality has lived through and how many Serbs have evicted
from here. Unfortunately, we have this situation today where even
the dead do not have peace and where we see over 20
demolished and broken tombstones", Popović said.
The Mayor of Gračanica municipality said that the perpetrators of
this vandalism should urgently be found.
"Police and all security structures should pay much attention to
this, because respecting history, culture and tradition is a very
important precondition for any peace and future in this area",
Popović said, and once again appealed to the international
community not to close eyes before such a vandalism.
"There is much in the hands of the international community and
our neighbors in Priština. I hope someday they will wise up and
see how important it is for all former crimes to be resolved. It is
our duty to persevere with this and it is certain that we will not
give up the clear-up of any crime in Kosovo", said the Mayor of
Gračanica municipality.
He said that the demolition of over 20 tombstones at the Orthodox
cemetery in Lipljan had brought a message that the Serbs were
not desirable in this city.
"From the conversations with the locals, I saw that they were very
much upset. It is now a chance for both the international
community and the institutions to resolve this and show that there
are more reasonable than unreasonable people in Kosovo", he
said.
The Mayor of Gračanica municipality, Srđan Popović, says that a
commission that will assess the damage has arrived in Lipljan
today and everything that can be repaired will be repaired within a
week. In the night between Friday and Saturday, the gravestones
at the Orthodox cemetery in Lipljan were destroyed by
unidentified vandals. The investigation was carried out by the
Kosovo Police.
