Vidovdani in pictures, celebrations in Gazimestan reportedly passed without major incidents
Express newspaper
28/06/2025 13:57
In Gazimestan, about ten kilometers from Pristina, Serbs from Kosovo, Serbia and countries in the region celebrated Vidovdan this June 28, in memory of the battle against the Turkish army in Kosovo in 1389. Vidovdan is also traditionally celebrated by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which also performs religious rites, as a sign of remembrance for the soldiers killed in what is known as the Battle of Kosovo, writes Radio Free Europe.
This year’s Vidovdan celebration passed without major incidents.
A large number of police officers were present at the event, controlling everyone joining the celebration.
Also present this year in Gazimestan were members of the Kosovo Police Inspectorate.
One visitor was denied entry because of a T-shirt with the inscription “Delije sever” [Delije fans from the north], as were several others who were carrying Serbian flags.
Delije is the collective name of fans of the Serbian football team, Cërverna Zvezda (Red Star).
Earlier in the day, authorities detained a member of the Serbian Democracy party, Stefan Velkovic, after he refused to take off a T-shirt with the image of the party’s leader, Aleksandar Arsenijevic.
Arsenijevic, on whose property the weapons were found, is not in Kosovo, and Kosovo’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, has said that he would be arrested when he enters Kosovo.
Arsenijevic denied that the weapons found were his, claiming that they were “planted” on him.
Several members of the Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo – including Slavko Simić – also participated in the organization.
In the past, members of this party did not participate in the celebrations for Vidovdan in Gazimestan, but only in the liturgy at the Gracanica Monastery.
In early June of this year, the Basic Court in Pristina overturned last year’s decision by the municipality of Gracanica to allow the display of the Serbian flag on Vidovdan. The court stated that the Serb-majority municipality had exceeded its authority and acted in violation of Kosovo laws, as Vidovdan is not an official holiday.
However, on Saturday, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty team saw Serbian flags all over Gracanica, including in front of the municipal building, used to mark Vidovdan.
The acting Minister of the Government of Kosovo, Nenad Rašić, stated that the use of symbols by the Serbian community “does not constitute a threat to anyone’s identity, but rather an affirmation of Kosovo as a democratic society based on respect for human and minority rights.”
The Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo – reacted to this decision, assessing that the same thing should be done when the Albanian flag appears in Kosovo.
Kosovo’s acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, stated on the eve of Vidovdan that, according to assessments by security and intelligence services, Serbia intends to provoke incidents and that on this occasion groups of Serbs from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina have organized to come to Kosovo.
“Such groups have traditionally been provocative, holding Serbian and Russian nationalist symbols that are contrary to the Constitution of Kosovo and are also against democratic and European values,” Kurti said.
On the other hand, the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, assessed that Kurti’s accusations against Serbia are “crazy and unfounded”, and stated that the Kosovo prime minister actually wants to “create an alibi for his repressive plans that he wants to implement”.
Gazimestan in Kosovo is also known for the speech that then-Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic gave there in 1989. This speech is often cited as the introduction to the armed conflicts that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
