
Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said his ministry had ordered the “ban on public gatherings as part of the ‘Miredita, Dobar dan’ festival”, a ten-year event aimed at promoting cultural cooperation and dialog between Serbs and Albanians.
Dacic said that the order was possibly issued due to the “threat to the safety of persons and property, as well as the risk of disturbing public order and peace on a larger scale”, while local journalists had reported that a small number of police officers were at the place where this festival was to take place. A few hours before the opening, a group of right-wing nationalists gathered, blocking people from entering the space, waving Serbian flags, chanting against Kosovo’s independence and singing nationalist songs.
Human rights activist Natasa Kandic accused her country’s institutions of siding with Serbian hooligans.
“By banning ‘Miredita, dobar dan’, Serbia and its institutions have sided with the most sinister hooligans and ethno-nationalists. A debate about reconciliation and a protest against the glorification of war criminals are no longer possible. A black hole”.
The organizers announced that the festival “represents a combination of cultural cooperation and the initiation of important political issues aimed at openness and peace between Serbian and Kosovar society”.
“Due to the hate campaign against the festival, we invite you to stand with us in solidarity, support the goals of the festival and enjoy its program together,” the organizers’ statement reads.
Although it is seen by the organizers as a development aimed at the exchange of artistic activities as a means of promoting reconciliation and building a peaceful future in the countries of the Western Balkans, for some of Serbia’s politicians in power, the festival represents a “high risk” event and they had previously requested its cancellation.
Dacic had spoken out against the festival and first asked the organizers to think about postponing and then canceling the festival, as Vidovdan is also being celebrated these days.
“I think this is a high-risk gathering and we are calling for the entire event to be canceled,” said Dacic on June 18.
Aleksandar Vulin, who was sanctioned by the US, amplified this rhetoric against the festival, saying that holding the festival at the same time as Vidovdan’s note was an “insult to which the state of Serbia must respond”.
The “Miredita, Dobar dan” festival, which is organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Serbia in cooperation with organizations from Kosovo, began in 2014 and has since featured films, exhibitions and organized debates to bring together Serbs and Albanians, deeply divided since the war of 1998-1999./TheGeopost/