assemblyman Haki Demolli who entered the building together with the ambassador, the incident aggravated the already difficult relationship between the U.S. State Department and Vetëvendosje. The reaction was prompt, following the US embassy official statement, Vetëvendosje was criticized by Kosovo government instances, political factors, as well as public opinion. Even long-time supporter of Vetëvendosje, former OSCE ambassador Willim Walker, described the action as a "big mistake". According to Zëri newspaper, the U.S. State Department called Kosovo's ambassador Akan Ismajli in Washington, D.C., requiring official explanations, though no comments came from official sources within Kosovo. The reaction from Vetëvendosje was vague, with soon-to-be-gone Alma Lama being the first one to personally apologize to the U.S. ambassador. On 1 July 2013, Glauk Konjufca apologized to all foreign representatives visiting the Kosovo parliament on that day: "Specifically, there is the case of U.S. ambassador, but even other foreign representatives to whom we apologize in case they have experienced any unpleasant situation. But, analyzing the harm that the agreement causes, it sounded reasonable to us to act the way we did though I don't deny having possibly made some mistakes." The overall positioning of Vetëvendosje was described by Shpend Ahmeti statement: "The protest was not violent, we didn't want anyone to get hurt, we are sorry if someone actually did, but the negative effects of the agreement overrun any side effects of the protest", adding "the government is trying to show us as anti-American, which we are not". The deputy assistant of Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker, during his visit to Pristina a few days later, was harsh and very direct with Vetëvendosje, calling them "clowns who want to be violent". Vetëvendosje responded by calling Reekers' accusations as "unfair and non-democratic" and issuing a letter of complaint to the U.S. Department of State. Other controversies Vetëvendosje activists and politicians have often ignored and contested the symbols of the Republic of Kosovo, including the flag and anthem. Visar Ymeri, chairman of Vetëvendosje at the time, refused to stand up for the anthem when participating in a congress of the AKR in 2017. When asked about it, Ymeri said that he confused it for a melody of Beethoven. In an interview before the 2019 parliamentary elections, Albin Kurti, chairman of Vetëvendosje, said that "Of course that I will respect (the symbols of Kosovo) as Prime Minister. But keep