Protests in Pristina: Concerns over calls for violence on social networks

The calls in the online space for the burning of the Assembly building, the beating of protesters and the labelling of police officers have accompanied the protests that escalated into violence on 5 October in Pristina.

Security and disinformation experts say that this language deepens divisions and risks turning discontent into violence.

“Burn the assembly down, flames should come out of it there,” writes one commenter. Another demands that the protesters who curse and cause damage be made “fit for hospital.”

These messages are part of the online discourse around the protests in Kosovo, which on 5 October escalated into clashes between protesters and the police in Pristina. People from both sides were injured in the clashes, including journalists who were following the events.

Radio Free Europe has monitored some of the comment spaces, mainly on media posts on social networks. The comments are written by real profiles as well as by anonymous or suspicious profiles.

In these comments, alongside the calls for the burning of the buildings of public institutions, there is incitement for the beating of protesters and labelling of police officers as children of “spies” and “traitors.” The calls have also been shared on Facebook pages whose ownership or purpose is not known.

According to disinformation and security experts, this language risks deepening social division and legitimising violence as an acceptable reaction.

Bardh Dema, head of fact-checking at the Hibrid.info platform, tells Radio Free Europe that during the monitoring of the latest developments they have identified online content that can be interpreted as incitement to violence, physical clashes or aggressive reactions.

He argues that the expression of discontent, even when it is harsh, does not in itself constitute a call for violence, and that citizens have the right to criticise institutions, the police, protesters, political parties or certain individuals.

“The problem begins when the message moves from criticism to dehumanisation, threat or direct or indirect incitement to violence,” Dema told RFE/RL.

The weeks-long protests against the Specialist Court’s verdict against Hashim Thaçi and three other former KLA leaders escalated on 5 October, after some protesters demanded that the draft law, approved that same day in first reading, pass immediately in second reading as well.

They blocked the entrance to the Assembly building, aiming not to let the MPs leave without finally voting the law, attacked an MP and several public officials, and threw bottles and pyrotechnic devices towards the building, while the police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters.

According to data from the Kosovo Police, at least 20 police officers, 12 protesters and one journalist received medical treatment for the injuries they suffered on Monday during the protest in front of the Assembly. There has been much criticism from the PDK and other public figures for, as they assess it, the disproportionate violence of the Police against the protesters. Regarding these accusations, the Kosovo Police Inspectorate has announced that it has launched a preliminary investigation.

In a public reaction, the Democratic Institute of Kosovo (KDI) has said that protest is a legitimate democratic instrument, but that threats, violence or the physical obstruction of MPs infringes the free exercise of their mandate. The KDI has called on political leaders and protest organisers to take responsibility and to demand that the protests continue without violence and without physically obstructing MPs.

The polarisation between “us” and “them”

For Ramadan Ilazi, director of research at the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS), the verdict against Thaçi and the others was the immediate trigger of the protests, but the protesters’ grievances are also linked to prolonged political crises, repeated elections and institutional insecurity.

“Society is tired of the deadlocks, the insecurity and the feeling that the institutions are failing to produce solutions,” he tells RFE/RL.

In this climate, both interlocutors see as worrying the polarisation that is being created among MPs as well as in the public, where people are being divided into two camps: “either you are with the KLA, or with Serbia.”

According to Dema, this places citizens before an artificial choice, leaving out critical or intermediate positions. “We have seen content that presents the developments of the protests in a one-sided manner, and publications that use very polarised language towards one side or the other. In some cases, the content is also accompanied by calls for reaction, confrontation or punishment of the persons presented as opponents,” he said.

According to him, a distinction must be made between legitimate criticism and language that can contribute to raising tensions. He says that public persons have the right to criticise institutions or protesters, but because of the influence they have, the way they formulate their messages is particularly important.

“In a tense situation, statements that create strong divisions between ‘us’ and ‘them,’ or that present opponents as enemies, can contribute to polarisation and influence the way the public perceives the developments,” Dema told RFE/RL.

Meanwhile, Ilazi links it to ‘affective polarisation,’ where the political opponent is treated as a threat.

“They close the space for independent thought and make every call for restraint, or compromise, look like treason,” Ilazi says of such formulations.

Disinformation in the online space, meanwhile, began a day before the announcement of the verdict against the former KLA leaders on 16 September. A study by Hibrid.info has summarised 20 verified cases in the second half of September, which include fake news, fabricated statements and content manipulated with artificial intelligence. According to the platform, this content shows a tendency to exploit public sensitivity around the judicial process in producing disinformative content.

How is the call for violence being spread?

According to a study by the cybersecurity expert Halil Berisha, a group of suspicious accounts on Facebook has shared, in a coordinated manner, inciting messages before and after the developments around the 16 September decision. He says the accounts used Albanian names, but were registered as “Musician/Band” pages and published identical or very similar comments on posts of media and political subjects, including calls for the burning of institutions, clashes and punishment of opponents.

Berisha says that the intensity of these messages increased as the Specialist Court’s decision approached, and that the pattern of action shows elements of a coordinated campaign. He compares this way of functioning with tactics used in known Russian influence operations, but this link has not been independently verified by RFE/RL.

After the publication of the study, according to Berisha, some of the identified profiles have been closed, while others have changed their names. He says that two profiles that had published calls for burning and warnings of “civil war” have been closed, while several others have changed their identity on Facebook. Berisha sees this as an additional indication that the profiles did not act authentically.

Berisha told RFE/RL that in recent days a marked increase has been observed in calls and incitements to violence in the online space, targeting institutions, MPs, protesters and journalists, and ranging from calls for the burning of institutions and physical attacks to death threats.

“The calls for violence are not only against one side, but are directed against everyone, in order to create clashes on social networks and, consequently, to incite violence,” Berisha told RFE/RL.

Dema, however, assesses that up to this stage it would not be correct for all this content to be characterised as part of a coordinated campaign.

“What we can say is that we see similar behaviour and narratives that are repeated, while part of them are then amplified by other users,” he said.

The risk, according to Dema, increases when inciting language accompanies old, manipulated or out-of-context photographs or videos, which can create false impressions about the actions of one side. He demands an institutional reaction to concrete threats and care from the media not to give space to unverified content only because it is viral.

Ilazi, meanwhile, stresses that public anger and the right to protest must be respected.

“At the same time, violence and calls for violence cannot be justified,” he says.

In Kosovo, public calls for violence, hatred or discord can constitute a criminal offence, depending on their content and consequences. The Criminal Code provides penalties for inciting hatred, discord or intolerance, as well as for inciting other persons to commit criminal offences.

Radio Free Europe asked the Kosovo Police and the Basic Prosecution in Pristina whether they are monitoring the posts and comments on social networks that contain calls for violence, and whether they have launched any procedure regarding them. The Kosovo Police gave no additional details, except that it has units, including investigative and intelligence ones, that handle information received from citizens or identified during their work, when it contains elements of criminal offences. Meanwhile, the Basic Prosecution in Pristina had not responded by the moment of publication.