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Cleaning up the Orthodox cemeteries in Kosovo-Metohija

 In the framework of cleaning up the Orthodox cemeteries in Kosovo-Metohija, which was launched by the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, the big weed has been removed from the cemetery in the village of Mušutište, Suva Reka Municipality, today.

The cleaning team involved members of civil protection, fire brigade, Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, (Serbian) municipality Suva Reka and the internally displaced persons, descendants of the buried persons at the cemetery in Mušutište. Escorted by the strong police force, they started working at the cemetery around 10 a.m. The medical team were also present in case of injury.

The cemetery in the village of Mušutište, the destination of nearly 50 Serbian families willing to return to Kosovo-Metohija, is greatly damaged. Only some 40 tombstones are left undamaged out of the total number of 250, while the rest of them are completely destroyed, taken away or irreparably damaged.

The cemetery cleaning today was only the first step aimed at careful arrangement of the graveyard, planned to take place in several phases, in cooperation with the descendents of those buried there.

Strong police force were engaged due to risk assessments regarding the presence of Serbs in the cemetery, and possible reaction of the local Albanian population. Unfortunately, the police assessment proved correct, since one of the vehicles was stoned and damaged. A large number of Albanians gathered in the vicinity of the cemetery, and there were also some with hunting rifles. Still, beside the stoning of the police car, no other unrest ensued. The police acted in professional way, and as a result everyone involved in the cleaning safely left the cemetery in Mušutište after the planned work was done.