Protest in Gracanica concerning employment of close people with Serbian List

It is mainly about positions announced by the Ministry of Health of Serbia at the end of January, which the Serb List of Serbs in Kosovo, which enjoys Belgrade's support, has even mentioned during the campaign for Kosovo parliamentary elections held on February 9th, writes. REL, broadcast Periscope.

Stressing that the Serbian List is the only party that has the backing of the Serbian state, its chairman, Zlatan Elek, has declared during the election campaign that “in the past, Serbia's state has secured a large number of jobs, and that is one of the ways to survive [in Kosovo]”.

But some residents of Gracanica are now claiming that jobs have exclusively won people close to the Serbian List, stressing that local representatives had promised jobs “by the last moment”, and that some of those who have been employed were not living in Kosovo.

Otherwise, some health institutions in Kosovo's Serb-run areas are members of the Serbian List. For example, the chairman of the party, Zlatan Elek, is director of the Clinical Hospital Centre in Northern Mitrovica, while Health Centre Director in Gracanica, Mirjana Dimitrijevic, has been on the list of candidates for MPs for this party's February 9th elections.

During the protest, held April 4th before the Uglar Health Centre in the municipality of Gracanica, some of the disgruntled citizens expressed that they had voted for the Serbian Progressive Party in Serbia's elections and that the Serbian state should now have “forgotten”.

“We all voted for our president [of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuciq] and the Serbian Progressive Party. Don't let them [Serbian List] say these are people who have voted against our country... Our president is Aleksandar Vuciq, but unfortunately he is being misinterpreted. The truth is not reaching him”, said Momo Jovanovic, who attended the protest.

He confirmed his son, who has a working contract with honourary, the employer had “delivered” in mid-March to go to Pioneer Park in Belgrade, where the camp of students who are opposing faculty blockades in Serbia by protest students is located. Free Europe Radio on 14 March had reported to Serbs from Kosovo that <x2 their support” for Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq. Representatives of the Serbian List were also identified.

A day earlier, before the Health Centre in Gracanica, some disgruntled citizens said they “support Vuciqi and the state of Serbia”, but that they cannot “

Among them was Sanja Akekq, who said she was rejected because Kosovo's Ministry of Communities and Return is building her a house. Topping this ministry, over the past two years, is Nenad Rassic from the Party for Freedom, Justice and Survival, which in the last parliamentary elections won a mandate in the Kosovo Assembly. The other nine mandates, reserved for the Serb community, went to the Serbian List.

“That's the ungodly”, Akzak said, stressing he's a self-friendly mother.

What do authorities say?

Health Centre Director for Gracanica Mirjana Dimitrijevic said she understands the citizens' dissatisfaction, but that it is impossible to accept all interested people to work.

“Health Centre in Gracanica has announced competitions for 52 jobs, for medical and non-medical staff. 750 people have applied to us, and 52 will be accepted. What I want to stress is that I understand dissatisfaction, but we are not able to accept a larger number of people”, she said, adding that now it is the deadline for complaints which disgruntled citizens can exploit and deliver their remarks.

In response to journalists' question to comment on charges of party employment, Dimitrijevic said:

I really can't answer this question. A commission was formed, and I have received this commission's proposal for candidates”.

Petar Djordjevic from Gracanica stressed that the number of people who took part in the protest Friday was evidently smaller, as during Friday's night and morning, there were” threats”. He did not exactly explain who threatened the protest participants or pressured them.

I warn all protest participants to document all threats they receive through voice messages or text messages and to hand them over to police”, he said.

He also submitted the demands of disgruntled citizens, which are: to publish the list of accepted employees and the commission's report, cancel the competition and form a new and independent commission, as well as the management of health institutions resign.

Djordjevic announced that the protests will continue, but stressed that the safety of participants will be taken into account.

Radio Free Europe addressed the Serbian List with a request to comment on citizens' accusations of party employment and the pressures they were subjected to, but to the publication of this news, from this political subject have not responded. Neither has the Ministry of Health of the Government of Serbia, which is responsible for health institutions in the Serbian environments in Kosovo, provided answers.

In addition to Gracanica, the competition for jobs in the health sector was opened in northern Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Fusha, and other institutions operating according to Serbia's system.

Also, Serbia has promised financial assistance to the unemployed, providing support to 5,000 persons in the amount of 20,000 dinars (about 170 euros), which was made public last year by Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq.

Some of the protesters in Gracanica said the Serbian List has also prepared lists for this kind of assistance, adding that the appropriate “persons have been included”.

Help for Serbs in Kosovo is envisioned through a decision by the Government of Serbia, which was undertaken after Vuciqi's announcement last September, following the closure of institutions in Kosovo that functioned according to Serbia's system. /Periscope/