More news has come out about the attack on the Decani monastery on Friday night. A grenade launcher was found on a hill overlooking the monastery but may not have been used in the attack (possibly just remnants of the previous fighting) but an anti-tank rocket was found lodged in the wall of the monastery. Minor damage to the roof of the wall has been reported. NATO has tightened security around the monastery following the attack and members of the Contact Group has condemned the incident stating that "all such violence against the Serb community or the Serbian Orthodox Church is absolutely impermissible and intolerable."
Along the lines of NATO tightening security in Kosovo, read about NATO's new threat levels (it's a joke, okay!)
A blast in the town of Gjakove/Dakovica at a hotel injured an employee over the weekend. When police arrived at the scene and searched the hotel, they found the body of a 25-year-old Albanian woman in one of the rooms. The cause of her death is not yet known. The explosion is thought to have been caused by a hand grenade and no suspects have yet been detained although the reports have identified the perpetrator as a male. In Gjilane, an explosive device was discovered attached to an Albanian's vehicle and KFOR was called. The device had to be destroyed on the spot and when KFOR exploded the device, the vehicle caught fire (and was destroyed) and several windows in nearby houses were blown out.
The official number from the UN for the protest puts the crowd at just 800 people. The group demanded the release of Albin Kurti, protested against Ahtisaari's proposal, and criticized UNMIK and PISG. This protest did not have the same numbers as previous protests and was over rather quickly compared to other protests. Kurti is a charismatic leader but his replacement, Glauk Konjufca, does not seem to be able to rally the group's supporters in the same way. Kurti is facing charges for inciting violence and is reported to have gone on a hunger strike last week.
It was brought to my attention that an organization (particularly dealing with American police officers in Kosovo) has taken a photo from my website and used my photo in a Kosovo presentations on their own website. While I am flattered that my photos are good enough to represent life in Kosovo, I am disappointed that no one from the company requested to use my photos and no credit was given to my website. I will be going through my photos and adding a link to the website to prevent this unethical type of web-theft. I have given permission to others to use my photos with credit or a link back to my site and will continue to do so. If you like my photos and want to share them, just shoot me an email and I can send you a photo without the watermark. It's not that hard to give credit :P
