Albanian protesters claim Serb monastery as "their heritage"

Hundreds of Albanians have protested against a court ruling to suspend the decision on the confiscation of land of the Visoki Decani monastery.
Source: Tanjug Friday, December 18, 2015 | 09:28

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(Image made from video)

The half-hour protest went without incidents on Thursday afternoon, and saw participants chant "UCK" ("Kosovo Liberation Army"; KLA), "Constitutional Court violates the Constitution," "Hands off from the land," "No to new demarcation," "International factor, don't put pressure."
The protesters, organized by the Albanian Alliance of Historians of Kosovo, also accused Visoki Decani Abbot Sava Janjic of "condicting propaganda," RTS reported.

The protesters said the Serbian Orthodox Church monastery, a UNESCO site, is a pat of "cultural and historic heritage of Kosovo Albanians."

The protest was secured by the police, while KFOR troops were deployed around the monastery.

A member of the the Albanian Alliance of Historians of Kosovo, Shkodran Imeraj, said the ruling was contrary to the Kosovo Constitution and called on the government and the assembly to declare the property of two companies, Apiko and Ilirija, as the property of the Decani municipality.

He wants the Constitutional Court to withdraw the decision and its president to resign "for legalizing decisions from the times of violent measures made during the 90s that were discriminatory and anti-national for Albanians from Kosovo."

He said Sava Janjic's statements and stances were of a "highly waring" nature, representing "an announcement of his plan to destabilize general circumstances in Decani."

Imeraj also claimed that the monastery was "not attacked by Albanians because it is a structure of cultural and historic heritage of Albanians."

"The malicious propaganda of Sava Janjic is evident not only in this case... the whole time he has been calling on Serbian nationalist against the Albanian people in Decani and Kosovo. He and his friends should know that the monastery of Decani was built by Albanians themselves."

Abbot Janjic on Thursday recommended that Serbs delay their travel to Decani, due to the announced protest by "the historians of Kosovo." He also published a video from the protest: