New Social Initiative expresses unease and worry over the actions of the Regional water supply company Pristina, policemen and some media during a recent action in Gračanica
Regional water supply company Pristina commenced this month an action of disconnecting debtors that owed te company more than 100 euros from the water supply system. The action previously announced to the media commenced in Gračanica too on Wednesday 26 July.
While the discontinuation of services to debtors is a normal action, the way in which it was executed was triumphalist and unworthy of the professional standards of the police and some media that reported on it. It is unclear why, in the first place, the Regional water supply company Pristina asked that mundane operations be recorded by the media. Especially given the fact that this implied that the media crews enter private, fenced off property of the citizens. On the other hand, numerous posts of the present media show that, the Regional water supply company Priština made sure that the media were present, but did not make sure to have a translator present thus devoiding its customers from Kosovo Serb community of dignified and understandable communication.
The language barrier could not be bridged by Kosovo police patrol that secured the action either. The police officers, in violation of the institutional obligation to ensure translation to all official languages, including Serbian, demanded the Kosovo Serb citizens speak Albanian language. Numerous posts of the two video recordings of tense situations in which the privacy and dignity of citizens were violated, are abundant with word of praise for the police officers who insisted the Serbian citizens spoke Albanian, wile some media too passed a moral judgment of the act, calling it „worthy of respect“.
Such actions by private companies, the institutions, and some media show that ethnic intolerance is spreading from political statements to institutional actions.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/NeDemos/videos/659962116155064/?vh=e&mibextid=v7YzmG
