Serbian citizens gathered yesterday (December 22) in Rudarë in Zveçan after the call made by the so-called 'Crisis Headquarters from the north of Kosovo' to protest. There were different interpretations about the number of participants in the organized protest.
The Kosovo police were the first to come up with an official number of participants, claiming that there were 1500.
After the publication of this police figure by Albanian-language media, the head of the office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, reacted, claiming in a Facebook post that there were over 10.000 participants in the protest organized in Rudarë, Zvecan.
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.
Link to the claims of the Kosovo Police and the Albanian language media:
Link to the reaction of Petar Petkovic and the Serbian language media:
https://www.facebook.com/petar.petkovickim/posts/740316804328588
https://www.dnevnik.rs/politika/petkovic-10000-srba-u-rudaru-pokazalo-da-se-zalaze-za-mir-22-12-2022
Parts of the claims from the Kosovo police:
According to field assessments at around 13:00 PM, the protest ended peacefully, without any reported incidents, and was attended by around 1.500 participants.
Part of the claims by Petar Petkovic:
More than 10,000 Serbs today proved to the whole world that they are for peace with a dignified and magnificent rally at the Cross in Rudar!
Kosovo Police, after the end of the protest of Serbian citizens organized in Rudarë, through a post on the official Facebook account, assessed the protest as peaceful and said that around 1500 participants had participated. (here)
The Kosovo Police statement was published in several Albanian-language media outlets. The Kosovo Police did not provide any reference or calculation on the basis of which this figure was reached for the claim of the number of participants.
The reporting in the Albanian language media about the number of participants in the protest declared by the Kosovo Police, caused the head of the office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, to react. He disputed the Police version, through a post on his Facebook account, claiming that there were over 10.000 participants in the protest organized in Rudarë. To support his claim, Petkovic offered several photos from different perspectives from yesterday's protest. (here)
hibrid.info, based on the photographs distributed by Petkovic and using digital fact-checking methodologies, has reached results that refute the two aforementioned claims about the number of protest participants.
To measure the number of participants in various gatherings, hibrid.info used the method for calculating gatherings of MapChecking.
Hibrid.info using this platform has made calculations about the number of participants in the protest.
According to Serbian-language media reports (here and here), the flag held by the protesters was 300 meters long. This served Hibrid.info to determine the length of the section of the Mitrovica - Jarinje highway that was filled with protesters.
The definition of the space of yesterday's protest was made based on the most comprehensive photo of the protest shared by Petkovic.
Based on the photos distributed by Petkovic in the space of the organized protest, the density of the participants varies (in some it appears less frequent and in some more dense).
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)
In order to measure the number of participants as accurately as possible, it has been determined that an average of 2.5 people per square meter, based on the image of the photo shared by Petkovic, which gives a volume/density of the presence of participating people.
Based on the MapCheking digital platform and the calculations made based on the photos distributed by Petkovic, they give us another data compared to the two claims. From the facts discussed, based on the images presented in the photos of the protest, and the definition of the space (2252 square meters), this platform, from the calculation through its methodology, gives an average number (approximate) of about 5600 protesters (here)
This number denies the claims of the Kosovo Police and the head of the office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic.
Analyze:
Serbian citizens gathered yesterday (December 22) in Rudarë in Zveçan after the call made by the so-called 'Crisis Headquarters from the north of Kosovo' to protest. There were different interpretations about the number of participants in the organized protest.
The Kosovo Police came out with an official number of participants, claiming that there were 1500.
The head of the office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, who, through a post on Facebook, claimed that there were more than 10.000 participants in the protest organized in Rudare of Zveqan.
Based on the MapCheking digital platform and the calculations made based on the photographs shared by Petkovic, they give us another clue based on the two claims. According to the calculations made, hibrid.info estimates that the number of participants in the protest in Rudare was about 5600, in a space of 2252 square meters.
Based on the work methodology, hibrid.info assesses that the two aforementioned claims are "unverified content".
ASSESSMENT:
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.