Violent clashes in Kosovo between Serbs and NATO forces leave at least 75 injured

The NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR, had to intervene on Monday to contain the violent protests by Serbs in northern Kosovo, who refuse to accept the authority of the mayors of four municipalities where they are the majority, and who have left at least 50 protesters and 25 soldiers injured.

KFOR reported that 25 of its soldiers, of Hungarian and Italian nationalitythey turned out injured with fractures, bruises and burns caused by incendiary devices.

The NATO mission resorted to the use of tear gas and stun bombs to disperse the protesters, who were blocking access to the Town Hall in the town of Zvecan, where the most violent clashes have been recorded.

More than 50 people were treated in a hospital for ailments caused by tear gas poisoning and bruises, three of them were hospitalized and one person suffered serious gunshot wounds and his life is in danger, reported the director of the Mitrovica Clinical Center, Zlatan Elek, according to the station N1.

As reported efe the reason for the clashes is that the serbsmajority in those municipalities but minority in Kosovo, They do not recognize the authority of the mayorsbelonging to the Albanian majority of the country.

[Serbia pone en “alerta de combate” a su ejército y despliega efectivos en la frontera con Kosovo]

The councilors were elected last April in an election that the Serbs boycotted and in which the turnout barely exceeded 3%.

The United States and the European Union have condemned the attacks against international troops and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “strongest condemnation of the attack” on Monday.

Among those injured in the riots in Kosovo there are 11 Italian soldiers, three seriously although their lives are not in danger, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced on social networks.

The President of Serbia, Alexander Vucichas accused the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, of causing the incidents, having used special police forces to force the entry of the mayors to the Town Halls three days ago, which were blocked by Serb protesters.

[El presidente de Serbia acusa al gobierno de Kosovo y a Occidente por las tensiones en la región]

The US and several European countries have already condemned the use of force by Kosovo, and Washington has even proposed that mayors perform their functions from other buildings, to help calm the situation.

Vucic has called on Kosovo Serbs to demonstrate peacefully and that “they do not enter into conflicts with NATO”.

Kosovo, a former Serbian province populated by a large majority of Albanians, proclaimed its independence in 2008, which Serbia does not recognize.

Both countries are negotiating the normalization of their relations on a new plan of the European Union, supported by the US, in a process frequently interrupted by the outbreak of tensions.