Kosovar Serbs attacked NATO forces in the self-proclaimed republic’s North as tensions rise between the Serbs and Albanians.
Approximately 25 NATO members deployed in Kosovo sustained injuries on Monday during clashes with Serbian protesters demanding the prevention of elected Albanian mayors from taking office in a separate legitimacy vote.
The multinational force stated that several soldiers from the Italian and Hungarian contingents “were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni strongly condemned on Monday the incident, saying the attack was “unacceptable and irresponsible.”
On the other hand, the Serbian government-owned Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) reported that “over 50 Serbs were injured during the clashes, with two in critical condition and at least one person in critical condition.”
The Serbs of Kosovo, who consider the region to be part of mainland Serbia, boycotted the municipal elections and thus consider the mayor to be illegitimate.
Additionally, the Serb List has requested that the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force take down the flag of the Republic of Kosovo from the Zvecan municipality and push out Kosovar police forces from the northern region, the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) said on Monday.
The head of the Serb list, the largest pro-Serb party in Kosovo, Goran Rakic, and his deputy Igor Simic were the ones who demanded that the flag be removed, according to RTK. The flag was put up by the “elected” mayor of Zvecan, Ilir Peci, which upset the local population.
The Pristina authorities have been attempting to install ethnically Albanian mayors in the north of the province after the April 23 local elections in northern Kosovo.
As a result of this, violent clashes erupted in front of administrative buildings in the country’s north, Kosovar media reported.
Local media reported on Friday that police forces of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo forced their way into an administrative building belonging to the northern municipality of Leposaviq and occupied it after two other buildings were raided in Zvecan and Zubin Potok.
Source: Almayadeen
