“I don't remember any of their words. I only remember the hard blows and the terror.”

Northern Kosovo had been experiencing a period of hostility towards the press unlike anything in its modern history. On 16 June 2023, Venera Xhoxhaj and her team at RTK Kosovo found themselves at the centre of that increasingly violent storm.

After one month of unrest in the region, a team of reporters from RTK travelled to Leposavic to cover the protests. When a central government minister left a local municipal building at the heart of the protests, anger once aimed at his convoy was quickly redirected to the media still present there.

Stationed near a mixed crowd of KFOR peacekeepers and protestors, the RTK team continued working to document the scene. An explosive was thrown into the group of journalists, forcing them to scatter. This was quickly followed by a wave of stones that rained down on the group as they fled. One stone struck Xhoxhaj on the back of the head, sparking the beginning of a vicious assault on her colleague.

“I’ve been working as a journalist for more than 22 years and I have never experienced something like this.”

In the chaos, cameraman Bardh Bekteshi was separated from his team – he was now being trailed by a group of masked men. As Bardh turned to run, one of the attackers swept his legs from under him, sending him violently to the ground. The rest of the group caught up to him just as the first attacker landed a sharp kick to the reporter’s back. A second kick followed as Bardh tried to roll onto the road and away from the attackers.?

“They knocked him down and began to beat him mercilessly.”

After several more blows – one of which broke his arm – Bardh managed to escape with his team. Once they were out of immediate danger, Xhoxhaj fell to the ground in shock. When her colleagues tried to help her to her feet, she panicked, fearing she was being dragged away by the masked men.

The attack garnered international attention and condemnation by state institutions, civil society, and embassies. Xhoxhaj said that the incident will not stop their team from doing their work.

The assault on the RTK team was just one of dozens of attacks recorded against media workers in Kosovo in this period of unrest. 20 attacks were recorded from 26 to 31 May alone.

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