Wrote: Festim Rizanaj
On August 26, the Serbian-language Telegram account БУНТ је стјанје духа ♱⃓ has published a post with the claim that, according to some information they have received, Albanians are planning to remove the monument to "Tsar Lazar" in Mitrovica, Kosovo.
So far, there has been no confirmation from Kosovo institutions, local authorities in Mitrovica, or the media that there is a plan to remove the "Tsar Lazar" monument.
What was claimed and what is known?
On August 26, at 14:30 PM, the Serbian-language Telegram account БУНТ је стаје духа ♱⃓ published the claim: ❗️"Према неким производимима које смо добили, шиптари плагаюю уклаханъе паменика Кнезу Лазару у Косовској Митровици!" ("According to some information we have received, the Albanians are planning to remove the monument of "Tsar Lazar" in Mitrovica, Kosovo").
However, no facts or sources have been provided to substantiate this claim.
So, after research in the digital information sphere, it turns out that this claim has not only spread in the Serbian language, but has also been published in the Albanian language.
Specifically, the Facebook page “Kosova Report” on August 26 (23:13) has share a photo of the monument to "Tsar Lazar", on which it is written: "According to some information, the Government is planning to remove the monument to 'Tsar Lazar'".
Also, on August 26 at 10:41, the PEJA News website published a post with the caption: "After the bridge over the Ibar River was opened for traffic, there is information that Albin Kurti is aiming to remove the statue of "Tsar Lazarus" from North Mitrovica!"
Even the website Perspektiva24, on August 26 at 10:48, claims through a post "After the bridge over the Ibar River was opened for traffic, there is information that Albin Kurti is intending to remove the statue of "Tsar Lazarus" from North Mitrovica."
However, as in the case of posts in Serbian, no facts, official sources, or reliable media reporting have been provided to support this claim.
Changing street names in North Mitrovica
Municipal Assembly of North Mitrovica approved on August 25 changing the names of 87 streets and proposed 25 reserve names for alternative cases, a decision that will be reflected in the personal documents, addresses and bills of citizens in the northern part of the city.
The change also includes the removal of old names, such as that of 'Tsar Lazar' Square, which was renamed 'Korzo'.
Analyze:
On August 26, a Serbian-language Telegram account (БУНТ је стјане духа ♱⃓) published the claim that Albanians are planning to remove the “Tsar Lazar” monument in Mitrovica, Kosovo.
This claim was also shared in Albanian by a Facebook page.
The claim is not based on verifiable facts and the source is not reliable.
Based on the working methodology, this claim was assessed as "unverified content".
Reasoning:
The "Unverified" rating is given to those informative contents that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which could not be verified due to certain circumstances (speed, lack of sources) during the publication of the content.