Activists stop eviction of Kosovo Serb refugee

A group of activists blocked the entrance to the building where refugee Dejan Lazovic occupied an apartment. The apartments in the building are intended for refugees from former Yugoslav republics and Lazovic does not have the right to them because he is an internally displaced person from Kosovo and does not enjoy the same status as refugees from outside Serbia.  

The apartments were allocated by the Commissariat following an invitation for applications by refugees in 2016. Lazovic and others had already occupied the empty apartments before the invitation.  

Commissariat official Petar Andjelic told N1 that the criteria to allocate housing for refugees was clearly defined by law. He recalled that the disputed apartments were meant for refugees, not displaced persons and added that the people who were supposed to be evicted had refused to be moved to a former army barracks in Obrenovac where migrants are also housed along with the families of some military personnel.