Serbian police ban cultural festival with Kosovo – pressure on liberal voices increases

BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbian police on Thursday banned a festival promoting cultural exchanges with Kosovo, a sign of growing nationalism and government pressure on liberal voices in the Balkan state.

A police statement cited security concerns as the reason for banning the event “Mirdita, dobar dan,” which was scheduled to begin later Thursday in Belgrade with a theater show from Kosovo.

Serbia does not recognise the 2008 declaration of independence of its former province, which is predominantly inhabited by Albanians. The festival Mirdita, dobar dan, whose name means “hello” in Albanian and Serbian, is organised by youth groups from Serbia and Kosovo who aim to bridge ethnic divisions created by the 1998-99 war and post-war tensions.

The police ban came after several dozen right-wing extremists gathered outside the festival site on Thursday to prevent the festival from taking place while waving Serbian flags. Police said they wanted to prevent “large-scale threats to the safety of people and property as well as to public peace and order.”

A statement said the anti-festival gathering was also banned.

Several government officials have sharply criticized the festival in recent days, calling it anti-Serbian. While the festival has been held alternately in Serbia and Kosovo over the past decade, this year’s ban in Serbia shows a generally toughened government stance toward its critics.

Earlier this week, authorities banned a Bosnian actor and writer from entering Serbia, saying he was a threat to national security, and deported him to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. In recent months, Serbia’s independent and investigative journalists have complained of increasing legal pressure and threats.

Serbia officially aspires to join the European Union, but the increasingly authoritarian government of populist President Aleksandar Vucic is increasingly distancing itself from the EU’s democratic values ​​and maintaining close ties with Russia and China.