*The article from the Serbian language media outlet "Kurir.rs" was corrected after being treated by hibrid.info (see here corrected article)
A content is published reporting damage to the doors of a Serbian ambulance in the village Baja (Banjska), near Vushtrri.
This claim was presented through a release published on Monday (May 18th) by the Serbian Office for Kosovo.
What's wrong with the communiqué?
It claims without evidence that this case is a continuation of an anti-Serbian campaign by "Albanian extremists" directed against Serbs and Serbian institutions in Kosovo.
The statement of the OQS was published by several Serbian-language media outlets (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here).
Communiqué translated into Albanian
"Unknown persons broke the entrance door of the Serbian ambulance in the village of Banjska near Vushtrri, while the sight of shattered windows and damage was found by the ambulance worker who came to work in the morning.
This is the only Serbian ambulance in this Serbian enclave, which serves several dozen Serbian families, mostly elderly, who are in greatest need of medical assistance. The villagers are concerned and outraged by this action and wonder if this is a message that they are unwanted here.
Our field representatives have visited the scene of the incident and will repair the damage in the shortest possible time and return the ambulance to operation, so that our people do not suffer consequences from these actions.
This case is a continuation of an anti-Serbian campaign by Albanian extremists directed against Serbs and Serbian institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, which clearly shows the level of hatred and intolerance, with the aim of making the life and survival of the Serbian people in the southern province impossible.
We are witnesses that the authorities in Pristina, with their anti-Serb actions and hateful rhetoric, incite such incidents and spread ethnic intolerance.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase the level of security in Serbian areas in Kosovo and Metohija, which must be guaranteed by representatives of international missions, and for the perpetrators of this act to be found as soon as possible and punished adequately, in order to stop such and similar violence."
The text initially states that unknown persons they broke the ambulance door, so there is no identification of the perpetrators. However, the statement later attributes the incident to "Albanian extremists" and positions it as part of an “anti-Serb campaign” against Serbs and Serbian institutions in Kosovo.
In addition, more broadly, it is suggested that the authorities in Pristina also have indirect responsibility by “inciting” such incidents with their actions and rhetoric.
So, although there is no confirmation of the identity of the perpetrators, the statement presents the event as a continuation of an anti-Serbian campaign by "Albanian extremists."
The event was assessed as an ethnically motivated incident in the document on the website, where this Serbian government institution has listed all cases assessed as such from 2021-2026 (see here).
Hibrid.info received information from the Kosovo Police, as the security institution in the country. According to publications on the Facebook page of this institution and according to the 24-hour report of the events of May 18, this incident has not been reported and there is no confirmation of the case or the alleged perpetrators (see here).
Analyze:
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has announced an incident where the doors of an ambulance in Kosovo were damaged.
Although the announcement emphasized that the act was committed by unknown persons, the statement further claimed without any evidence that the damage to the ambulance was a continuation of an anti-Serbian campaign by Albanian extremists directed against Serbs and Serbian institutions in Kosovo.
Also, the Kosovo Police have not confirmed either the case or the possible perpetrators of the alleged incident.
Therefore, based on the evaluation methodology, hibrid.info assesses the claim as a "Conspiracy Theory".
rationale
"Conspiracy theories" are considered to be informational content that contains a false or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event or person, presenting it as part or the result of a secret plan ("conspiracy"). The characteristic of these contents is that they present a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause-effect relationships are established, without providing any reliable evidence.