![]() Igor Simić, the deputy head of the Serb List, the biggest Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party, accused Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, of fuelling tensions in the north. Nato peacekeepers also blocked off the town hall in Zubin Potok to protect it from angry local Serbs, witnesses said. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. ![]() “This implies that immediately before 2pm, the Serbian armed forces’ chief of the general staff issued additional instructions for the deployment of the army’s units in specific, designated positions,” Vučević said, without elaborating. Vučić, who is the commander in chief of the Serbian armed forces, has raised the army’s combat readiness to the highest level, the defence minister, Miloš Vučević, told reporters. Later in the day, protesters threw eggs at a parked car belonging to the new Leposavic mayor. In Leposavic, close to the border with Serbia, US peacekeeping troops in riot gear placed barbed wire around the town hall to protect it from hundreds of angry Serbs. Serbs also spray-painted Nato vehicles with the letter “Z”, referring to a Russian sign used in the war in Ukraine. “Police were forced to use legal means, such as spray, to stop the protesters and bring the situation under control.” Kosovo police said in a statement that “organised” demonstrators “using violence and throwing teargas, tried to cross the security cordons and make a forced entry into the municipality facility”. In Zvecan, one of the towns affected, Kosovo police – staffed by ethnic Albanians after Serbs quit the force last year – sprayed pepper gas to repel a crowd of Serbs who broke through a security barricade and tried to force their way into the municipality building, witnesses said. Those who carry out Vučić’s orders to destabilise the north of Kosovo must face justice,” Osmani tweeted. “Serb illegal structures turned into criminal gangs have attacked Kosovo police, Kfor officers & journalists. Kosovo’s president, Vjosa Osmani, accused her Serbian counterpart of destabilising Kosovo. The US ambassador and European Union envoy have summoned the ethnic Albanian mayors to a meeting in Pristina in a bid to ease tensions.įrance said it “condemns this violence in the strongest possible terms and calls on all parties, in particular the Kosovo government, to take immediate steps to reduce tensions”. It is essential to avoid further unilateral actions by the Kosovo authorities and for all parties to take a step back to lower tensions”. The country’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said: “We will not tolerate further attacks against Kfor. Hungary’s defence minister said on Facebook that more than 20 Hungarian soldiers were among the wounded, with seven in serious but stable condition.Įleven Italian soldiers were injured, with three in a serious condition, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said 52 Serbs were hurt, three seriously, in the unrest. Kfor commander, Division General Angelo Michele Ristuccia, criticised the attacks as “unacceptable” and underlined that the Nato mission will “continue to fulfil its mandate impartially”. “While countering the most active fringes of the crowd, several soldiers of the Italian and Hungarian Kfor contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices,” it said in a statement. Kfor, the Nato-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo, condemned the violence.
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