Petrit Latifi

Taken from “DIELLI”, Newspaper from the correspondent in Kosovo. Mitrovica, February 4, 2023.

In the north of Mitrovica, now with a Serbian majority 23 years ago, on the night of the massacre between February 3 and 4, 2000, 10 Albanians were killed and 25 others were injured, while about 100 Albanian families were forcibly evicted from their homes within that night alone, and within the month 1564 families with a total of 11,394 members.

“The consequences of the Serbian criminal attacks that night in the northern neighborhoods of Mitrovica were terrible. Albanians were forcibly evicted from their properties and in this way that part was ethnically cleansed and reality was changed, making Serbs the majority, who until then were a minority”, it was emphasized in the annual commemorative activities.

In Mitrovica, the largest city in northern Kosovo, the first massacre took place 23 years after the war ended in June 1999, during which 455 Albanians were killed, ranging in age from 2 months to 89 years, 279 disappeared and 450 were injured. 9,540 Albanian homes were destroyed.

Today, the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, commemorated the 23rd anniversary of the two days of terror in northern Mitrovica.

President Osmani wrote:

Ten Albanian citizens killed, including children, women and the elderly, by armed Serbian gangs, 25 injured between February 3-4, 2000, as well as 1,664 families expelled with almost 12,000 members from northern Mitrovica, embody memory and the need for justice.

On the 23rd anniversary of the days of horror in this part, the call for justice is a tribute to the killed, the wounded, and the displaced.

May the memory of the victims be eternal and justice a constant goal until the perpetrators are held accountable.

Reference

https://gazetadielli.com/ne-veriun-e-mitrovices-para-23-viteve-serbet-vrane-e-debuan-shqiptaret/