Citizens buy red-and-black flags ahead of the “Kosovo is waiting” march

A few hours before the “Kosovo is waiting” march is due to begin, the Ulpiana neighborhood in Pristina has been filled with red-and-black flags, national symbols and large numbers of citizens.

Residents of the capital and other participants have come out to obtain flags and national symbols, while the rally is expected to begin at 2 p.m.

Liridon Kabashi is one of the citizens who will join the march. He said that he would take part together with his family, expressing hope that the liberation fighters would be released and return to Kosovo.

“Yes, of course we will take part in the march. With the family, with the family. With the family, that is. We are expecting the liberation fighters to be released and return to Kosovo. We hope they will be released, but they must then use their own means as a second resort, and we strongly and firmly believe in their innocence,” Kabashi said.

Xhevdet Jakaj, a former member of the KLA, said he believed that the former KLA leaders would be found not guilty. He also recounted his experience during the war.

“Of course they will be released because they are innocent. They fought for their own country; they did not go to Serbia or elsewhere to kill anyone, but fought to protect their children, their mothers and their fathers, and for that they will be found not guilty. Yes, I am a soldier. I left Switzerland when I was 17, and I took my brother with me. In ’98, I was in Albania, in the special unit in Durrës, for one week, and then I went to Koshare. We were wounded in Koshare,” Jakaj said.

Citizens from Tetova are also expected to join the march in Pristina. Bekim Matrançi, from Pallatica, said that he and his fellow citizens regularly take part in such activities in Pristina, Tirana, Skopje and elsewhere.

“Yes, we have always taken part—in Pristina, Tirana, Skopje and elsewhere. We are convinced that they will be released. They are innocent and will be released; they will be released 100 percent,” Matrançi said.

Bekim Xheladini, also from Tetova, expressed his expectation that the former KLA members would be released. He said that he himself had been a KLA member in Macedonia.

“Of course they will come today. Of course they will come together today. Of course! We had them as fighters, that’s right. It is right! Of course it is right!” Xheladini said.

Ramazan Mehmeti, from the village of Pallatica in Tetova, came to Pristina to express his support for the former KLA members.

“We support our fighters who made a contribution and gave their youth for this—for the youth here, for who we are. We support them and impatiently await their release. They are innocent. Their youth was given for this country, for this people, for this youth, and the Albanian people must support them, because if it were not for them, there would be neither Kosovo nor Albania nor Albanianhood,” Mehmeti said.

The “Kosovo is waiting” march is taking place today in Pristina and is expected to be attended by citizens from Kosovo as well as from Albanian-inhabited territories.