11 years since "March Pogrom" of Serbs in Kosovo

11 years since "March Pogrom" of Serbs in Kosovo

BELGRADE -- Tuesday marks the 11th anniversary of the large scale violence organized in Kosovo against Serbs, known in Serbia as "the March Pogrom."

The two days of rioting and attacks resulted in the deaths of eight Serbs and 11 Albanians and injured 954 people.

4,012 Serbs were driven from their homes, more than 900 houses belonging to Serbs, Romas and Ashakalis were set on fire, while 35 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed and desecrated.

Six towns and ten villages were ethnically cleansed during this time, and even 11 years afterwards, most of the Serbs driven out of their homes have not returned.

The rioting was preceded by an accident when three Albanian boys drowned in the Ibar river, with Albanian media accusing the local Serbs of "chasing them into the river using dogs."

A special OSCE report, to be presented on Thursday, notes that had there not been for the irresponsible and sensationalist reporting by the media, the violence "would not have been so intensive or brutal."

Ethnic Albanian extremists launched their protests on March 17, 2004 in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, organizing an armed attack on Serbs in the northern part by the end of that day, when KFOR had to intervene.

Representatives of the international community said the ethnically motivated violence against Serbs was "well planned and orchestrated," but it turned out that more than 20,000 members of international forces "did not at first react adequately to prevent it."

The clashes in Kosovska Mitrovica claimed the life of Jana Tucev, while Borivoje Spasojevic died on the balcony of his apartment when he was hit by a shot from a...