Petkovic: Albin Kurti is responsible for everything that happened yesterday in the north of Kosovo

Albin Kurti was responsible for everything that had happened the previous day in Zvecan, the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic said, repeating that even today the most important message to the Quint representatives would be to "reason Kurti and that child of theirs called Kosovo" because, as he points out, otherwise all things can go in an irreversible direction and set the whole region on fire.

"Balkan arsonist Albin Kurti wanted to set fire to the entire region yesterday and the result of that conflict is that 52 civilians were injured on the Serbian side, three of them seriously, primarily Dragisa Galjak, who received two bullets when he was shot from behind, by a special ROSUpoliceman, and that was when he ran to get away from the tear gas, like most Serbs," Petkovic said on RTS.

He added that Caslav Sofronijevic and doctor Dragisa Milovic had also been seriously injured and that 41 members of KFOR had also been injured, three of them seriously.

"We wish everyone a speedy recovery, we hope that there are no casualties and we have no problem saying that. The Serbs never wanted a conflict with KFOR, the one who wanted it was Albin Kurti, and when you look at all his actions over the weekend and on Friday, it was clear to everyone that he wants conflicts. He wants to provoke a war, because that is the only way to avoid fulfilling his obligations, primarily the formation of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. The leadership of Serbia and the representatives of the Serb List received serious guarantees from the West, above all from KFOR, that they would not allow the Gauleiter occupiers to enter Serbian buildings," Petkovic said.

However, as he adds, it was seen yesterday that they set up barbed wire, and cordons, in order to, as he states, apparently assist the Albanian mayors to be able to enter Serbian buildings.

"They were supposed to be present on Friday and they were supposed to prevent the entry of those who led to unrest and conflict. The candidates of the PDK - Hashim Thaci's party, the mayors of Zubin Potok and Zvecan, made a decision not to enter the buildings in those two municipalities, but this is not the case with Kurti's mayors in Leposavic and North Mitrovica, what's more, theirs in Leposavic has not left yet," Petkovic points out.

He emphasizes that these are not legitimate mayors and that Kurti is directly responsible for everything that happened yesterday.

He points out that the Serbs had a peaceful protest, which included representatives of the Serb List, including Igor Simic and Goran Rakic, who, like the other Serbs, sat peacefully on the plateau.

Pointing out that every Serb protest has been peaceful until now; Petkovic says that when they were sitting, KFOR forcibly moved them to get to two ROSU vehicles.

"All this would not have happened if KFOR had not reacted and had not thrown tear gas. Then the people first started to fight back with their fists, but let's not forget that KFOR's mandate is to protect the Serbs, and they were there to protect the Gauleiter occupiers," Petkovic said and added that KFOR almost assisted ROSU units.

According to him, yesterday a serious diplomatic offensive was launched from Belgrade, and it continues today, and the meeting between the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the representatives of Quint is currently underway.

He reminds that Vucic also spoke with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Antonio Tajani, as well as with the High EU Representative, Josep Borrell, and states that the talks will continue.

"First of all, we insist that Pristina release two of our detainees - Radoc Petrovic and Dusan Obrenovic. They were taken to South Mitrovica, charged with hooliganism, and they sat peacefully in the front rows. Our people are peacefully protesting, they cannot reconcile with the occupation of the north, with displayed rags - flags of Kosovo. The Serbs want to live by protecting their institutions," Petkovic stressed.

He repeated Vucic's words that "if the Albanian occupier shoots, he will get an answer."

"We asked KFOR to act, but if it doesn't react, there is someone who will protect our people," Petkovic said and added that the Serbian army was at the highest level of combat readiness and that last night they had been deployed in additional locations.

"The state leadership visited the soldiers; the Serbian Army is doing its job, which is to protect its people and the country... We don't want a conflict, that’s what Kurti did by clashing with the people, and at the end of the day when you look at the statements of some ambassadors, it's a fairly balanced statement where there is no invocation of the responsibility of the Serbian side. I hope that many people saw yesterday that the responsibility is on Kurti," Petkovic said.

The most important message even today to the representatives of Quint is, as Petkovic says, "to reason with Kurti".

"And that child of theirs called Kosovo, because all things can go in an irreversible direction and the whole region can catch fire. Kurti wants to present himself as a little Zelenskyy, but in fact, he is a little Hilter who wants to expel the Serbs. We will not allow him to do that, Serbia and President Aleksandar Vucic will not allow him to do that," Petkovic said.