[AMCC-News] HRW: Rioters Burn Albanian Homes in Bitola; Mosques burned; Albanians told to leave the town or face more terror

[Mentor Cana]

     "The anti-Albanian riots in Bitola present a dangerous escalation of
      the crisis in Macedonia. The local police must fulfill their
      responsibility to stop the violence, not exacerbate it."

                                  Holly Cartner, Executive Director
                                  Europe and Central Asia division
                                  Human Rights Watch

  - Albanians told to leave the town or face more terror
  - Albanians beaten
  - Albanian homes and business burned
  - Mosques burned
  - Macedonian police officers actively participated in the violence


Full report at: http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/06/Bitola0608.htm


(New York, June 8, 2001) Police in the Macedonian city of Bitola did not
attempt to stop rioting crowds on Wednesday night, and some police officers
actively participated in the violence, Human Rights Watch said today. As a
result, dozens of ethnic Albanian homes and as many as 100 shops were
burned by the mob.

"The anti-Albanian riots in Bitola present a dangerous escalation of the
crisis in Macedonia," said Holly Cartner, executive director of the Europe
and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "The local police must
fulfill their responsibility to stop the violence, not exacerbate it."
...
There has been no NLA fighting in or near the city of Bitola.
...
The targeted homes appeared to have been carefully selected and included
the homes of prominent ethnic Albanian politicians such as the Deputy
Health Minister and the wealthiest ethnic Albanians.
...
A village mosque was also vandalized by the rioters. Grave markers were
broken, and several graves had been broken open. The windows of the mosque
were broken, and rioters had set the carpets inside the mosque on fire but
did not succeed in burning it down. On the exterior wall of the mosque,
rioters had painted several swastikas and written "Death to the Shiptars."
The term "Shiptar" is an ethnic slur when used by non-Albanians.
...
Some of the witnesses reported that Bitola police officers had taken an
active part in the rioting. According to Zini K. (see testimony below), at
least one uniformed police officer and one uniformed soldier took part in
the destruction and burning of his restaurant. According to Hamdi S.,
police officers stopped him from attempting to put out the fire to his
home, and were shouting "Burn, burn for Macedonia."
...
Anti-Albanian sentiment in Bitola is rapidly growing into a campaign by
extremists to rid Bitola of its ethnic Albanian population. Witnesses
interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that the rioters had yelled
slogans including "Death to Albanians," "Pure Bitola," "Albanians Out of
Bitola," "Get Out Albanians," and other such statements. The rioters told
some of the ethnic Albanians that they had a week to get out of town before
being targeted again. Many ethnic Albanians have fled their homes in Bitola
in the aftermath of Wednesday's riot because they are afraid of further
attacks.
...
Zini K. managed to put out the fire, but returned the next day to find his
restaurant looted and burned to the ground: "After I left, they came back
to the restaurant and burned it again. It is now completely burned.
Everything was looted -- our kitchen tools, tables, dishes, radio,
telephone -- there is nothing left."
...
The crowd started shouting, "You have one week to leave Bitola, and if you
don't go to Albania we will kill you, we will make you disappear from this
world."
...
The crowd also beat some ethnic Albanians. Among those beaten was a
fifty-year-old former local leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians
(DPA) and his forty-seven-year-old wife.