UN administrators flee “Kristallnacht”
B92 - March 17, 2004

PRISTINA -- Wednesday – UN administrators have abandoned offices in the Kosovo towns of Gnjilane, Prizren and Pec, fleeing what one UNMIK official described to B92 as “Kristallnacht”.

“Kristallnacht is under way in Kosovo,” the official told B92 on condition of anonymity.

“What is happening in Kosovo must unfortunately be described as a pogrom against Serbs: churches are on fire and people are being attacked for no other reason than their ethnic background,” he added.

Serbs and UN officers have been the target of attacks by Kosovo Albanians during most of the day and night.  The most dramatic withdrawal was from Belo Polje on the outskirts of Pec, where UNMIK officials, retreating with Serb residents, where forced to shoot Albanian assailants in self-defence.

The Serbian Orthodox seminary in Pec has been razed, and Albanians celebrated its destruction by setting fire to the local church., said the UN official.

Copyright 2004 B92
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