STUDENTS' PROTESTS CONTINUE
AIM Pristina, December 31, 1997
The last three months of this year will, among other things, be remembered by protests of students of the Albanian nationality who raised their voices against poor educational conditions in their mother tongue, i.e. the Albanian language. December 30, was the last date for which they have scheduled and on which they held their last protests in this year. In contrast to the previous two times when on October 1 and 29, they held their protests in the Pristina suburb of Velanija, this time they decided to hold them in the city centre.
Just a day before the end of this 1997, the morning in Pristina dawned under the watchful eye of the police forces stationed at all city intersections and roads. Roads leading towards the main street were blocked from early morning hours and fully armed members of the police were "turning back" students who were heading towards the agreed location.
Half an hour before the protest was to start, around 10,30 a.m., larger groups of students who skillfully managed to get through to the center of the city by way of back streets, were split by the police who pushed them into the opposite direction. Some minutes before 11,00 a.m. several hundred students managed to get together on a plateau in front of the "Grand" hotel holding books in their hands and waiting for their letter of protest to be read according to the scenario. The letter points to a peaceful and non-violent character of the protest, demands the realization of basic human rights guaranteed by international covenants and stresses the non-political objective of the protest - unconditional vacating of all school facilities and university space.
The letter of protest, which contained 11 principles, was read aloud at all places in town where students managed to form larger groups. It included the following tenets: "I shall stand firmly committed to non-violence in my mind, words and acts even when provoked by the police or when it uses forces against me; I shall be open and honest with everyone without exception; I do not seek to conquer my opponent, but I demand the respect of human rights, equally for all; I shall not use force against the property or other wealth, and least of all destroy them; I shall not carry arms or anything that might be considered arms; Anyone who provokes the police shall be considered as infiltrated by it; In case of police intervention we shall not retaliate"...
Despite clear messages of peace, the police brutally intervened with nightsticks against this and all other groups students have managed to form. In addition to police members there was a large number of persons in plain clothes who joined the police and on that occasion brought in several students. According to the agreed platform and words of Driton Lajci, Vice-President of the Independent Students' Union (NUS), if failing to reach the main street students were instructed to try to assemble at other points or streets leading towards city centre. Several groups of altogether a thousand students succeeded in rallying in front of the buildings of the National Theatre, Press Centre and the Electrical Power Industry of Kosovo. The NUS reported that over 30 students came to them asking for first aid because of the injuries they have sustained, while several private clinics provided medical assistance to citizens and students.
According to first information, in other towns of Kosovo which have high schools and some faculties and in which students' protests were also organized, there were injured. Nevertheless, the protest hour ended precisely according to the schedule dictated by students, whom the police chased around for over an hour, beat them with nightsticks and even used tear-gas. Observers estimate that over 15 thousand Albanian students turned out at the protest, although a day before the protest the Students' Organization distributed some 23 thousand protest letters.
"With this protest we have shown the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic that we shall not give up our demands", stated after the protest Bujar Dugolli, President of the NUS PU, expressing the opinion that the police became alarmed because of the books and therefore intervened with brutality". Dugolli described the protest as "a students' oath to continue with protests which will, in case their demands are not fulfilled, turn into nation-wide protests in Kosovo", warned Dugolli. Albin Kurti, spokesman for the NUS PU, added that "the students' commitment to non-violence and a peaceful way, as well as the mass character of protests guarantee the success".
It all started sometime at the end of 1996 when a group of over 500 students signed a petition and sent it to Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the Kosovo Albanians. Chances were that protests would begin in spring 1997, but then they were asked to abandon the idea. In early August, a delegation of students of the Pristina University took their case to all political parties in Kosovo asking them to support the idea of holding protests.
Just a few days before the beginning of the new school year, September 1, a delegation of students met with Ibrahim Rugova, the first man of Kosovo, who asked them to postpone their protests "as the time was not right due to the present difficult situation". However, in late September, by forming an Organizing Committee, composed of five students and four professors, the Independent Students' Union, despite great pressures from all sides, especially from Dr.Rugova, finally decided to go on with the protests. A week before protests were due, at his third meeting with students, Rugova asked them to wait till October 15 and not to announce any specific dates.
A large number of faculty deans, as well as some members of the Senate of the Pristina University joined his demand. "We must find the right time for exerting pressure on the Serbian side by organizing this type of protest", said Dr.Zejnullah Rrahmani, one of Rugova's close associates and his education advisor. Rumour has it that at that moment the mediator in now a historic document - The Rugova-Milosevic Agreement on the Normalization of Education in the Albanian Language - the San Egedio Community announced the talks of the "Group Three Plus Three" for early October in Pristina.
An urgent meeting was called in Pristina with 11 Ambassadors, accredited in Belgrade, led by Richard Miles, Charge D'affaires of the American Embassy in Belgrade and the Dutch Ambassador, Jan Sizoo, in his capacity of EU Chairman. The meeting demanded from all sides to act with caution and to restrain themselves from the use of force. After the students showed their determination to hold the protest on October 1, they were, nevertheless, asked to give the international community a chance to implement the Agreement on Education. The first day of October heralded new winds in Kosovo and the determination of both sides to go all the way with their demands.
"Two epochs have clashed in Kosovo. Both at the first and these most recent protests of the Albanian students in this year in Pristina and Kosovo", said Mehmet Hajrizi, member of the DSK Presidency, assessing that "the Albanian youth has asserted itself as a reliable guarantee and a future hope of Kosovo". Estimating that students are one of the most important political factors in this year, Bajram Kosumi, the PPK Vice-President, stated that where political factors have failed, students have succeeded, with the help of citizens. "Students' protests represent a basis of peaceful resistance of an occupied nation which doesn't have its army but only two powerful weapons: diplomacy and dedication", said Kosumi adding that "the occupier should be fought against every day in all segments. Students have realized that there are hundreds of forms of peaceful resistance which will force the Belgrade regime to criminalise itself", said Kosumi.
In any case this year has rounded up an activity of the young Albanian students. Judging by indications, the next year will again be marked by their struggle for the exercise of basic rights. Not only theirs, it seems...
AIM Pristina
Arber VLLAHIU