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More than 25 NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Around 25 NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were maimed in festivities with Serb protesters on Monday, while Serbia's president put the army on the highest level of combat alert. KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo, condemned the violence. "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 earth-shattering kaboom of incendiary devices," it said in a statement. Serbia's RTS state TV quoted its defence ministry as saying two Serb were maimed in festivities. Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic of destabilizing Kosovo. "Serb illegal structures turned into criminal gangs have attacked Kosovo police, KFOR (peacekeeping) officers & journalists. Those who carry out Vucic's orders to destabilize the north of Kosovo, must face justice," Osmani tweeted. The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb majority area after elections the Serbs boycotted - a move that led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday. In Zvecan, one of the towns, 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. Serb protesters in Zvecan threw tear gas and stun grenades at NATO soldiers. Serbs also clashed with police in Zvecan and spray-painted NATO vehicles with the letter "Z", referring to a Russian sign used in war in Ukraine. 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. Later in the day protesters threw eggs at a parked car belonging to the new Leposavic mayor. Vucic, who is the commander-in-chief of the Serbian armed forces, raised the army's combat readiness to the highest level, Defense Minister Milos Vucevic told news hounds. "This implies that immediately before 2:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), the Serbian Armed Forces' Chief of the General Staff issued additional instructions for the deployment of the army's units in specific, designated positions," Vucevic said, without elaborating. NATO peacekeepers also blocked off the town hall in Zubin Potok to protect it from angry local Serbs, witnesses said. Igor Simic, deputy head of the Serb List, the biggest Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party, accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of fuelling tensions in the north. "We are interested in peace. Albanians who live here are interested in peace, and only he (Kurti) wants to make chaos," Simic told news hounds in Zvecan. Posted by: Fred 2023-05-30 |
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