A day after Kurti's speech, in which he characterized the police as the successors of the KLA, the international community is silent

And a day after the speech in Pristina, in which Albin Kurti again attacked the Serbs and Serbia, characterized the police as the successors of the KLA, sticking the labels of criminals without respecting the presumption of innocence, the international community is silent.

Friday 14.07.2023 Pristina

In Pristina, 418 new policemen were taking the oath, at the ceremony, in the first rows, the highest officials of the Kosovo government, ambassadors, the commander of KFOR, the head of EULEX...

 "Serbia is the biggest threat!", "Our police, which you joined, is a continuation of the liberation army", "...Notorious criminal Lune"...

Kurti says all this in a speech that should have been solemn. Applause at the end of the speech. Applauses of the ambassadors, the commander of KFOR, the head of EULEX, a cocktail and smiles.

Friday 14.07.2023 Kosovska Mitrovica

The last working day of the week, people go to work, talk with colleagues. Parents spend hot afternoons with their children on Mitrovica's favorite promenade, playing and cooling off with ice cream.

It's getting dark, teenagers are looking forward to going out, it's Friday night. Parents are worried.

With darkness, policemen with phantoms and other guns in armored vehicles/transporters come out on the streets of Mitrovica. They are patroling the city looking for "criminal gangs and notorious criminals" while parents stay awake waiting for their children to return home.

After 11 p.m., while most cities wake up and young people enjoy going out and having a night out, Kosovska Mitrovica sinks into silence. Only transporters and applause from Pristina can be heard.

Maybe this will sound like a scenario from the twilight zone, but it is our reality.

And a day after the speech in Pristina where Kurti again attacked the Serbs and Serbia, characterized the police as the heirs of the KLA, sticking the labels of criminals without respecting the presumption of innocence, the international community is silent.

It seems they still don't understand why the Serbs didn't want to be part of Kurti's institutions. Maybe they didn't understand the speech the best, since there was no translation into Serbian at all.

And maybe they applauded because they are afraid that they too will be on a list, so maybe they too will be arrested by Kurti.

In a conversation with the older and wiser residents of Mitrovica, they say that the situation has not been more difficult since 1999, but as difficult as it was for us, there have been worse in history. They say, imagine what it was like for the people who set off on foot across Albania in 1915. The wartime Prime Minister of Serbia at the time said the famous sentence that is still relevant today: "There is no salvation for us but we will not perish."

It is still a beautiful and sunny day in Kosovska Mitrovica, the promenade will be full of smiling children. Despite the applause in Pristina, the pressures, the arrests, this city lives and will live!

Written by Milan Radojevic, member of the Serb List and former mayor of North Mitrovica