Raid: Albanians again invade the largest Serbian enclave of Kosovo
More than 25 armored personnel carriers and jeeps, as well as about 100 members of the Kosovo Albanian police special unit ROSU, invaded the largest Serbian enclave, Kosovska Mitrovica, and broke into Serbian homes. Two people were arrested. The last time Albanian security forces arrested Serbs under the pretext of fighting corruption was last summer, which sparked protests by the local population.
This was reported by the Tanjug agency, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“These police actions were carried out on the basis of a search warrant issued by the Main Court, Special Department, which resulted in the arrest of the suspected police officer included in the search warrant,” the Kosovo police said in a statement.
It is clarified that a search is underway for another suspected police officer. The Albanian side claims that it is allegedly looking for those involved in the murder of Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovich.
“During the police operation, another suspect was detained and a weapon was found in his possession. During the operation, two more guns and ammunition were seized,” the police said.
During the arrest, neighbors of one of the detained police officers, the Stankovic family, were also injured. The officers broke down the metal front door without any warning and then burst into the bedroom, where, in addition to the couple, there was their minor son, the Kosovo online portal reported.
The police took the head of the family out of the apartment, and his wife was left alone in the room with the child while one of the police stood at the door.
“They took the husband out and asked where the neighbor they were looking for lived and went upstairs. I came out in my pajamas, shaking and crying. I hugged my husband because I thought something was wrong with him. The police came back to us again, and I asked them: “What do you want again?” Then one of them started shouting: “Well, where does he live, tell me where he lives!” I told them: “Somewhere up there,” because I really don’t know where exactly this neighbor lives,” Bojana Stankovic said in an interview with the portal.
She claims that about ten armed and masked police, believed to be Albanian, broke into their apartment.
“They were wearing masks, had helmets on their heads, and had weapons in their hands. I think there were about ten of them,” Boyana said. According to her, she was afraid that they might take her child because she could not find him in the darkness and panic.
“I was scared for my child and panicked, asking where my son was, and he (the policeman - ed.) pointed a flashlight at the bed and said that he was there and should be quiet. He asked me if we had any more children, and I answered that I only have one son,” Boyana said.
Due to the resulting stress, Boyana is forced to seek medical help. She wonders who will compensate them for the broken front door.
The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Serbian government, Marko Djuric, said that the Albanians wanted to arrest the head of the operational department of the Serbian police service of the enclave, Zeljko Bozic, but instead took his son Vasily Bozic to an unknown direction. During the protest, another police officer from the region, Rade Basar, was arrested.
He added that the main intention of the attackers was to blame the Serbs themselves for the murder of local politician Oliver Ivanovic, whose death caused a great stir in Serbia.
Serbian police director Vladimir Rebic said that his department had received information the day before that the Albanians would enter the northern part of Kosovo.
He pointed out that armored vehicles entered the northern part of Kosmet contrary to all resolutions and called this intimidation of the Serbian population.
The Chairman of the Serbian Parliament Committee on Kosovo, Milovan Dretsun, assessed the actions of ROSU as a demonstrative action after another rejection of Kosovo’s application to join Interpol. He also considers the attack an attempt to discredit the Serbian List party, popular in the enclave, which won 9 seats in the early parliamentary elections - the Albanians did
“They want to hand over mandates to the Serbs, whom the Pristina authorities would like to see in their institutions,” Dretsun told RTS, Tanjug reports.
Dretsun believes that Pristina wants to provoke further destabilization in the region.
A Pristina court ordered the arrest of the suspects in the murder of Oliver Ivanovic ahead of the elections in early October. Observers then linked this decision with the desire to provoke tension and destabilize the situation in the northern enclaves.
In May, Albanian special forces carried out a special operation to make mass arrests in Serbian enclaves against representatives of the local police on charges of corruption. Then it caused riots. It was then that Albanian security forces detained and beat a UN observer, a Russian citizen.
Oliver Ivanovic was the leader of the Serbian resistance in Kosovo. At the beginning of 2018, he was shot by unknown assailants at the entrance to the office of the civil initiative “Serbia, Democracy, Justice” he created.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.