Decan – Some 3 thousand people rallied in the town of Decan in western Kosovo on Thursday against a Kosovo Constitutional Court decision concerning Monastery Decani.

No incident took place during the protest which passed off under heightened security measures. Decani Albanian residents see the Constitutional Court’s decision that ended 16 years of dispute, as a violation of the law.

Municipal authorities in Decani have urged as many people as possible to turn out for the protest, calling the court’s decision “illegal and discriminatory toward Decani residents” and one that, among other things, “prevents the town’s economic development.”

During an extraordinary session held on Wednesday, councilors “expressed their political will to oppose in every way the implementation of the decision.”

Addressing the rally today, Decani Mayor Rasim Selmanaj pledged that the protests “against the unjust decision of the Constitutional Court” would continue in the future.

The Serbian Orthodox site became the focus for demonstrations after the ruling that the land belonged to the monastery, not to two Kosovo companies which have been claiming it since the 1999 war in Kosovo.