Citizens of the Serbian community gathered yesterday (January 8) in Štrpce to protest in relation to the case where young people of Serbian nationality were injured, on Friday, January 6. There were claims about the number of participants in the protest by the mayor of Štrpce, Dalibor Jevtić, and the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petković.
The Mayor of the Municipality of Štrpce, Dalibor Jevtić, claimed in a Twitter post that around 7 thousand (7000) people participated in yesterday's (January 8) protest.
At the same time, the director of the Office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, through a post on Facebook, claimed that in yesterday's protest "7 thousand hearts beat as one for the wounded youth", supporting Petkovic's claim.
Hibrid.info, based on the verification of the facts made digitally and calculations of the number of participants, reaches another number of participants in the protest, different from the above claims.
Links to claims about the number of protesters by Jevtic and Petkovic:
https://www.facebook.com/petar.petkovickim/posts/755103236183278
Parts of Jevtic and Petkovic's claims:
About 7000 Serbs today clearly said that we want to be ourselves! A message was also sent to the little souls. Let them continue to have fun in their circuses and they will be held accountable for all their lies. (Jevtic)
Serbs showed today in Štrpce in a magnificent and peaceful rally of Serbian unity and harmony that 7000 hearts beat as one for Stefan and Miloš, for all our persecuted and innocent prisoners, for the state of Serbia and against Kurti's terror! (Petkovic)
To support the number of approximately 7 participants, Jevtic and Petkovic offered photographs from different angles from yesterday's protest.
Hibrid.info, based on the photographs distributed by Jevtić and Petković, as well as the media that covered the protest, and using digital fact-checking methodologies, has reached results that refute the aforementioned claims about the number of participants in the protest.
To measure the number of participants in various rallies, hibrid.info used the method for calculating rallies. MapChecking.
Hibrid.info using this platform has made calculations about the number of participants in the protest.
The definition of the area of yesterday's protest was made based on the most comprehensive photograph of the protest distributed by Jevtic, Petkovic and the media that covered the event.
Based on the photos shared by Jevtić and Petković, the density of participants in the area of the organized protest varies (in some it appears sparser and in others denser).
To illustrate the sample for the density of participants in gatherings in a defined space, see the example visualized by Prof. Dr. G. Keith Steele. (here).
To measure the number of participants as accurately as possible, it was determined that there was an average of 2.5 people per square meter in the space in front of the municipality (where the podium was), based on the image of the photograph distributed by Jevtić and Petković, which gives a volume/density of the presence of participating people.
Meanwhile, in the space on the other side of the street, due to the lower density, it has been determined that there is an average of 1.75 people per square meter.
Based on the digital platform MapChecking and calculations made based on the photographs shared by Jevtić and Petković, they give us a different data compared to their claims.
In the space in front of the municipal building, where a density of 2.5 people per square meter has been determined, after calculations made, it appears that the space defined to describe the number of participants (983 square meters) occupies about 2457 people.
In the space across the street, where the density of 1.75 people per square meter has been determined, after calculations made, it turns out that the space defined to describe the number of participants (388 square meters) occupies about 679 people.
Based on the calculations made, for the two spaces designated for the presence of protesters, it results that in the area in front of the Štrpce municipality building, the designated space accommodates approximately 2457 people, while the space across the street accommodates approximately 679 people. Based on these data, it results that these spaces accommodate approximately 3 thousand (3136) people.
Analyze:
Citizens of the Serbian community gathered yesterday (January 8) in Štrpce to protest in relation to the case where young people of Serbian nationality were injured, on Friday, January 6. There were claims about the number of participants in the protest by the mayor of Štrpce, Dalibor Jevtić, and the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petković.
The Mayor of Štrpce, Dalibor Jevtić and Petković, claimed that around seven thousand (7000) people participated in yesterday's (January 8) protest.
Meanwhile, based on the digital platform MapChecking and calculations made based on the photographs distributed by Jevtić and Petković, they give us another piece of information based on the claims.
According to calculations made, hibrid.info estimates that the number of participants in the protest in Shtërpcë was around 3 thousand people in an area of 1371 square meters.
Based on the work methodology, hibrid.info assesses that the two aforementioned claims are "unverified content".
Rating:
The “Unverified” rating is given to those media reports that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which have not been able to confirm the same due to the lack or non-possession of reliable sources.