“Clashes in Kosovo’s Zvecany: NATO peacekeepers and protesters injured”

As a result of clashes in the city of Zvecany in the north of partially recognized Kosovo, peacekeepers of the North Atlantic Alliance as part of the KFOR mission and Serbs who protested under the administrative building because of the non-recognition of local elections suffered.

This is reported “European Truth”.

Italian media that refer to the KFOR statement first reported 41 injured NATO peacekeepers, including 11 Italians, one of the largest in Kosovo. Later in statement KFOR was given data on about 25 injured peacekeepers.

Po words Foreign Minister of Italy Antonio Tajani, three of the injured Italians are in serious condition, but nothing threatens their lives. “I want to express my solidarity with the soldiers of the KFOR mission who suffered in Kosovo during the clashes between Serbian demonstrators and the Kosovo police,” he stressed.

From the Serbian side, according to the Serbian state broadcaster RTSmore than 50 people were injured. Of these, one is in critical condition, two more are in serious condition. Among the victims is the former head of Zvecan, Dragish Milovich, who has a chest wound.

The situation in Zvecany escalated on Monday after members of the pro-Serb local Serbian List party refused to comply with the order of the peacekeepers to move away from the city hall and broke through the cordon of police and peacekeepers. In response, they used light-noise grenades and, as the Serbian media write, firearms.

Recall that last week in several municipalities in northern Kosovo, clashes broke out: the police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse Serbian protesters. The reason was the refusal of local Serbs to participate in local elections in April and recognize their results.

On Sunday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged the government of Kosovo reduce tensions in relations with Serbia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic led the army country on full alert and ordered its units to approach the border with Kosovo.

Serbs, who make up the majority in northern Kosovo, still consider Belgrade their capital. And ethnic Albanians make up more than 90% of Kosovo’s population as a whole, but Kosovo Serbs in the north have long demanded the implementation of a 2013 agreement to create an association of autonomous municipalities on their territory.