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| Notre Dame burning |
While investigators are looking to find the cause of the fire at Notre Dame, world-famous Cathedral in Paris, two Serbian portals claim to know the true cause of the fire in of the 12th-century Gothic Church. According to them, the cause is the waving of the Kosovo flag.
Alo and Informer portals, known for their close ties with the Serbian Government, published reports on their pages on April 15, saying the tragic fire is "God's punishment" because of the waving of Kosovo's flag inside the cathedral during the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.Notre Dame showed the flag of the false state of Kosovo and therefore is now being destroyed by a tragic fire, is said in the Reporter portal, illustrating the script with a picture of smoke coming out of the cathedral and another photo where the flag of Kosovo was seen together with the flags of other countries, according to Radio Free Europe.
The Informer Portal then removed the script from the website without providing any explanation.
The other portal Alo said that the Kosovo flag displayed last year in Notre Dame has been like "spitting up on Serbian victims" of the bloody war in Kosovo during the 1990s.
For this, the Serbian portal says the fire was a condemnation for the waving of the Kosovo flag.
But also this medium later withdrew the script without giving any explanation.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after the 1998-99 war that ended after NATO air strikes in Serbia forcing Belgrade to pull its troops out of Kosovo.
Out of the conflict, some 13,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were expelled from their homes.
Over 90 percent of Kosovo's 1.8 million population is comprised of ethnic Albanians. About 5 percent are Serbs and some parts of the country are divided into ethnic lines.
Western countries hope that Kosovo can become a stable and multi-ethnic country.
About 5,000 NATO troops are still stationed in Kosovo. Its independence has been recognized by more than 115 countries, but not by Serbia, Russia, China and five EU member states.
At the time when it became a "noise" for the Kosovo flag in Notre Dame, officials said its deployment was made on the basis of the guest list that the French government had prepared.
But it was not just the issue of the flag, many Serbs were angered when Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was seated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was positioned too far on the opposite side. Russia is a traditional Serb ally and refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence,
The Serbian president, meanwhile, came out in support of France after the fire that covered the Notre Dame Cathedral.
He wrote on Twitter that all Serbs are saddened by what happened at the Church, which is visited by 13 million people every year.
"We are with our French friends and we are ready to help restore the simoble of France and world civilization," wrote Aleksandar Vucic.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the monument described as the nation's soul and voiced relief as the "the worst was avoided" by the fire that at one moment threatened the entire building.