‘We Don’t Forget’: Serbs Commemorate Deadly 2004 Unrest in Kosovo

The 19th anniversary of ethnically-motivated violence against Serbs in Kosovo on March 17 and 18, 2004 was marked in the Serb-majority north of the divided city of Mitrovica and in the town of Gracanica.

Natasa Scepanovic, president of the Association of Kosmet Victims, told a commemorative event at the House of Culture in Gracanica that "we see March 17 as a difficult, sad and unfortunate point in our history in this area, which no one can cover up and downplay".

Before the event, flowers were laid in front of the 'Missing' monument in the yard of the House of Culture.

Memorial services were also held by Serbian Orthodox clergy in Gracanica and Mitrovica, and there were further commemorations in Orahovac/Rehovec and Velika Hoca/Hoce e Madhe.

The deputy director of the Serbian government's office for Kosovo, Borislav Tajic, said in Mitrovica that "we commemorate and do not forget the pogrom that took place against the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija".

"We remember our destroyed and desecrated shrines, our martyrs, the abandoned hearths of exiled families, the destroyed cemeteries, the murderous wave of demolition, burning, looting and obliteration of everything that is Serbian in the Kosovo and Metohija area," Tajic said.

A photographic exhibition entitled 'Crucified Kosovo' dedicated to the events of March 17, 2004 was also opened at the city museum in the north of Mitrovica.

An official state ceremony led by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic will be held at the National Theatre in Belgrade on Friday evening.

The US ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, said that the March 17 events "can serve as a reminder of the risks that we are facing in dealing with the same problems today", adding that ...