Albanian family in southern Serbia targeted by persecution campaign

Police cordons in front of bakeries, protests and hate speech, this is what the footage from Surdullica in southern Serbia shows.

On the streets of this small town, which has about 10 inhabitants, some citizens have been protesting in recent days due to the death of a fellow citizen in a traffic accident, which sparked ethnic tensions, as the suspect in the accident is a young man of Albanian nationality.

Although the suspect has been arrested, banners calling for a boycott of bakeries owned by the suspect's family were seen at the protests, and calls were heard for the expulsion of the entire Albanian family.

There were similar messages at the February 19 protest.

Goran Mladenovic, one of the protest participants, told Radio Free Europe that the family should leave the area because, as he put it, they are “responsible for the reckless driving” of the suspect.

He claims that the protests are not ethnically motivated.

"Under these conditions, with this arrogant behavior and the way they are behaving, I think they should leave. He (the driver) is only 20 years old and was driving with a Kosovo driver's license," said Mladenovic.

While his bakery is surrounded by police, the REL journalist could not find the bakery owner at the scene. He did not respond to REL's calls or messages.

The campaign of persecution and calls for deportation was preceded by hate speech in a local group on the messaging application, Viber, of which Serbian government minister Novica Tonqev, former mayor of Surdullica, is also a member.

Although he emphasizes that he supports the demonstrators, Tonqev says that the protests have no "national basis."

The attacks and calls for lynching were condemned by the Minister for Human and Minority Rights, Demo Berisha, emphasizing that it is "unacceptable that the tragedy is misused to spread hatred, calls for expulsion and collective punishment based on national affiliation."

Until the publication of this text, REL has not received a response from the competent Prosecutor's Office on whether it is investigating the attacks and incitement of national hatred in Surdullica.

According to the 2022 census, a total of six citizens of Albanian nationality live in this city.

On one side, protests, on the other, support

Police, before the last protest on February 19 in Surdullica, stood in front of the "Park" bakery owned by the family of the suspected driver, but the demonstrators, unlike previous times, this time did not gather in front of them, the journalist reported.

Dozens of people stood in the city center with Serbian flags and banners with the message "Justice for Rastko" (died in the accident).

Despite calls for boycotts and attacks, the three Albanian family-owned bakeries continue to operate.

An employee at one of the Park bakeries, who asked not to be identified, said she does not support the protests.

She added that she can say "only the best words" about her employer.

While the REL journalist was talking to the employee, several people entered the bakery to buy bread, but refused to speak.

In the center of Surdullica, REL also met with Danijella, who stressed that she does not support the boycott of bakeries and the protests.

She said she knows the bakery owner by sight and is against persecuting an entire family.

"The person who committed (the crime) should be held accountable," she said.

The prosecutor's office in Vladicin Han, near Surdullica, announced on February 19 that an investigation is underway into the road accident for a serious offense against public traffic safety, due to the death of one person.

The accident occurred on February 9, while the prosecution announced that the suspect BF possesses a driver's license from Kosovo "which was immediately taken from him during the police inspection of the scene."

The prosecution also announced that it will order an expert examination "in order to determine the cause of the accident, the speed of the vehicle driven by the suspect, as well as the fact that the deceased was provided with timely medical assistance."

The suspect has been remanded in custody, while the Prosecution emphasizes that "in this, as in all procedures, the presumption of innocence is respected."

The prosecution also emphasized that it issued this notice, among other things, due to the "publication of unverified information on social networks."

How did it start?

The protests in Surdullica were organized through social networks and the messaging application, Viber.

Parts of correspondence in the Viber group "Justice for Rastkon", which reportedly has several hundred members, were published on social networks and in the media.

These communications, among other things, call for a boycott of the bakeries, but also for the expulsion of the suspect's family.

The hate speech escalated into protests, where journalist Dejana Cvetkovic, who was reporting from the scene, was also attacked.

"At the protest, I was verbally attacked and obstructed while working, various comments with sexual connotations were directed at me. I think (some individuals) were unhappy with my reporting because I placed the protests in the context of interethnic intolerance," she said.

She added that the first protest was organized in front of the suspect's family bakery, when those present threw eggs at the facility.

Cvetkovic also emphasized that in a conversation with the bakery owner, he learned that after these events he was forced to evacuate his family from Surdullica, but that this did not go without incident either.

"He told me that protesters attacked the vehicle that was evacuating his family," she said.

REL did not receive information from the police whether and how many people have been detained for the attacks on the bakery and the Albanian family.

In the same protests, a series of demands were formulated to the institutions, including the resignation of the police leaders in Surdullica due to allegations of years of ignoring the problem of reckless driving by the suspect.

Questions were also directed at the local Health Center due to allegations that emergency assistance arrived late.

Authorities in Surdullica did not respond to REL's questions regarding the protests and the hate speech heard at these gatherings.

Minister "on the side of the demonstrators"

One of the members of the Viber group where hate messages were exchanged was the Minister without Portfolio in the Government of Serbia, Novica Tonqev, who is also the former mayor of the municipality of Surdullica.

Asked by REL about the calls for the deportation of the Albanian family, Tonqev responded that "peaceful protests are being held in Surdullica as a form of expression of dissatisfaction with the reckless behavior of traffic participants."

"In these civic gatherings, the cause is not at all nationalistic, but only addressing the competent institutions that such and similar things should not happen," he wrote.

Punishment of targeting

However, some non-governmental organizations and institutions in Serbia interpret the events in Surdullica differently.

The organization “Civic Initiatives” announced on February 17 that a campaign is being conducted in that country “that includes the collective targeting of citizens based on their national affiliation.”

"Particularly worrying is the fact that public officials, including Minister Novica Tonqev, have also participated in the communication channels where calls for permanent displacement and collective punishment were spread," the reaction states.

The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Milan Antonijević, condemned the threats and hate speech directed at the family of Albanian nationality.

Antonijevic stated that the public expression of messages calling for lynching, expulsion or intimidation constitutes a serious violation of the right to equality and can lead to endangering the security of citizens and worsening interethnic relations.

Recently, Washington has also warned about the position of the Albanian minority in Serbia.

Members of the Foreign Policy Committee of the US House of Representatives in January requested an examination of a number of problems faced by Albanians in southern Serbia, assessing that they are discriminated against.

The government in Serbia has rejected these assessments.

According to the 2022 census, more than 60.000 Albanians live in Serbia and they constitute the fourth largest national minority in the country.