More than 30 members of the NATO-led peacekeeping force were injured in Kosovo on Monday during clashes with Serbian demonstrators who demanded that Albanian mayors elected in a controversial election be kept out of power. Demonstrators with police tried to break through to a government building. in the northern city of Zvecan.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that 52 Serbs were wounded, three of them seriously, and one of them was hit by “two bullets fired by Albanian (ethnic) special forces”.
And the Hungarian defense minister pointed out in a Facebook comment that among the wounded were “more than 20 Hungarian soldiers,” seven of whom are in serious but stable condition.
And Italy’s foreign minister said three Italian soldiers were seriously injured, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “strong condemnation” on Monday night, calling on “all parties to take a step back and reduce tensions.”
In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said it “condemns these acts of violence in the strongest possible terms”, calling on Belgrade and Pristina to “return to the negotiating table” with a view to reaching a settlement.
“We cannot tolerate a threat to regional stability in such a critical international context,” the ministry said in a statement. This is a matter of European security.
The Serbs, whose political representatives left local governments in northern Kosovo in November due to the standoff between Belgrade and Pristina, boycotted the municipal elections organized by the Kosovo government in April to end the institutional vacuum.
Albanian mayors won local elections organized by the Kosovo authorities on April 23 in four municipalities, mostly from Serbs, who largely boycotted the elections as only 1,500 voters out of 45,000 registered voted in the poll.
Earlier on Monday, Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse Serbian demonstrators who were protesting in front of the Serb-majority Zvecan municipality building and attempted to enter the building, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.
NATO peacekeeping forces tried to keep the demonstrators away from the police, and later began to disperse the crowd using shields and clubs.
Several demonstrators responded by throwing stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers, who were quickly thrown several hundred meters away from the municipality of Zvecan.
NATO “strongly” condemned the “unacceptable” attacks on its forces, stressing that “violence must stop immediately.”
“We call on all parties to refrain from actions that escalate tension and engage in dialogue,” the alliance said in a statement.
KFOR Force Commander General Angelo Michele Restocha denounced the “unacceptable” attacks and stressed that his forces “will continue to carry out their mission with impartiality.”
The multinational force said that many soldiers of the Italian and Hungarian battalions “were subjected to unprovoked attacks and suffered fractures and burns as a result of the explosion of incendiary devices.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tagiani said 11 Italian soldiers were wounded, “three of them seriously”.
“We will not tolerate further attacks on KFOR,” Meloni said, stressing that “it is imperative that the Kosovo authorities avoid further unilateral action.”
On Friday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic ordered the army to put its units on alert and “move” towards the border with Kosovo.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that “the Serbs are fighting for their rights in the north of Kosovo”, stressing that the army is on alert and “the decision will be made by the President of Serbia.”
