Breaking news: One of the participants of "Vidovdan March" movement - Dejan ?? (form Belgrade)-- has been arrested for carrying Serbian flag during bus-looking up by "Kosovo police" (Kosovski zastitni korpus aka UCK) on the road form Gracanica to Gazimestan today morning. -- a. Source: Fokus radio reporter on site. ====
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2007&mm=06&dd=28&nav_category=126&nav_id=42081 Battle of Kosovo commemorated 28 June 2007 | 09:26 -> 11:18 | Source: B92, Beta, AP PRIŠTINA, BELGRADE -- The Serbian government announced a commemoration near Priština marking 618 years since the Battle of Kosovo. The ceremony will also include a commemoration of Kosovo's heroes, a government statement said. June 28, St. Vitus Day, is marked in Serbia as the anniversary of the 14th century battle when a Christian army led by Serbian Prince Lazar was defeated in Kosovo by invading Ottoman forces. The battle has came to symbolize Serbs' historic resolve not to give up Kosovo, which is considered the heartland of Serbian statehood and religion. The event will be attended by Kosovo and Religion Ministers Slobodan Samardžić and Radomir Naumov. Serbian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Pavle will not be in attendance due to ill health — the first holiday ceremony the patriarch will miss this year. Instead, Bishop of Raška and Prizren Artemije, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coast Amfilohije and Bishop of Lipljan Teodosije will perform the memorial service for the men who took part in the battle. Participants of the "Vidovdan March," members of the 1389 Movement, of Serbian Unity and of the Family of Serb Sports Supporters have announced that they will attend. They arrived in Kosovska Mitrovica on June 27 after having walked 360 kilometers, from where they will proceed to Gazimestan in buses. The commander of the self-proclaimed "Guard of Tsar Lazar" Hadži Andrej Milić, stated that 150 members of this organization will be at Gazimestan on June 28 and proclaim "the Vidovdan government of national salvation." "We have announced our arrival and obtained permits. Two of our buses have already arrived in Kosovska Mitrovica and the two remaining ones are setting off tonight. We have been told that we must not appear in uniforms or our permits will be cancelled," Milić told Beta on June 27. "Nobody can stop us from coming to Kosovo. We are going unarmed, wearing T-shirts, to finish the battle of Kosovo and Metohija. In the event of riots and a declaration of Kosovo's independence, we will occupy all critical points within two hours," Milić said. He added that the "guard" had many members "among the Gendarmerie and the disbanded Special Operations Unit of the Serbian Interior Ministry. Heading the guard, which was founded in Kruševac on May 5, is a member of the Serbian parliament, Željko Vasiljević. UN officials reacted strongly yesterday to the announcement that a self-proclaimed “volunteer guard” of Serbian nationalists would be attending the commemoration. International officials in the province saw this as a provocation and attempt to destabilize the situation. UNMIK Chief Joakim Ruecker signed a regulation Wednesday banning the presence of the Tsar Lazar Guard in Kosovo. “Any attendance of members of this organization will be seen as a violation of resolution 1244 and a threat to public order and peace. I have given the police clear instructions,” Ruecker said. Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said that every Kosovo citizen has the right to celebrate his or her holidays. “In Kosovo, however, politicization of religious manifestations will not be tolerated,” Ceku said. KFOR troops around the province are working under high security alert during today's commemoration.
