Destruction of churches and church property on Kosovo in days of March Pogrom (March 17-19, 2004)

There was no resistance whatsoever to the wave of destruction. KFOR simply got out of the way, leaving churches and homes unprotected, withdrawing to its base. All they did was evacuate the Serb civilians. Since there were not more victims, it appears that the primary goal of the organizers of the pogrom was to destroy Serb property and churches, and to expel forever the few Prizren Serbs that remain. One group of Albanians headed in the direction of the medieval Holy Mother of God of Ljevis, broke into the church and set a fire that damaged a large number of frescoes. The renowned 12th century fresco of Christ "the Provider of Prizren" taking bread from a small basket while in the arms of the Mother of God was destroyed in especially barbaric fashion.

German guard remained in the monastery and calmly watched the Albanians destroying church property, breaking icons, burning buildings, celebrating that night on the ruins of the monastery. Finally, using pickaxes they began to dig up the tomb of Holy King Dusan in the foundation of the medieval church, even though the relics of the Serbian ruler were long ago transferred to Belgrade and rest in the church of St. Mark. Some soldiers were taking pictures of the destruction in progress, like tourists; once the Albanians had determined that they had no intention of stopping them in what they were doing, they completely ignored the troop that were present. It was a repeat of scenes from 1999 when German soldiers calmly watched the ethnic cleansing of Prizren, and the destruction of dozens of churches blown up by the Albanians during the first months of the "international protectorate".

During the recent visit of Bishop Artemije to Prizren he had an opportunity to go through the ruins of his residence, the cathedral of St. George, the small church of St. George (Runjevac), the Seminary and the Holy Archangels Monastery. He could not enter the Holy Virgin of Ljevish cathedral because the entrance was blocked by barbed wire by KFOR for security reasons.

"The entire Serb quarter of Potkaljaja looks as if it had been air-bombed, the church of the Christ the Savior is covered with soot from the fire. The Bishop's residence where I lived for years has been completely destroyed along with everything in it. Frescoes in the Holy Mother of God of Ljevis (see the links at the bottom), some dating back to the 12th century, have been barbarically mutilated, and the church itself shamefully desecrated. Prizren, a city that guarded centuries of cultural creativity and was the pride of the honorable and cultured residents of Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia, and the whole world now looks like a village in Afghanistan," said the Bishop, calling what occurred in Prizren the night of March 17 an act of URBICIDE (murder of a city).