Petkovic: The previous night was hell for the citizens of North Mitrovica, the police searched people from head to toe and hit them with guns

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said today that the previous night had been a real hell for the citizens of North Mitrovica.

As he stated, Kosovo Police Forces had literally created a kind of security ring last night and patrolled in the city center and had checkpoints on the outskirts of the city, where they had stopped cars, searched people from head to toe, hit them with guns, and cursed them. As he stated, the Special Forces had entered from the southern part with more than 30 armored vehicles.

"It's not just about this night, which was hell for the citizens, it's about Kurti provoking all the time and wanting to cause conflicts and war. Kurti's police tried to make several arrests yesterday and tonight in Bosniak Mahala, then they tried to arrest two brothers Goran and Vlada Vucetic in the city center, and they also chased Miroslav Zivkovic, who is a friend of Lune’s (Milun Milenkovic) and it lasted all night. Now the situation is calmer, they replaced the armored vehicles with 'Skodas', but still a large number of Special Forces with long guns are present," Petkovic said.

He announced that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, will continue to speak with European and American officials today.

"We are doing everything in our power to preserve the peace, but everything is in Kurti's head and his violent moves with which he wants to set the whole region on fire," he points out.

He also said that in the coming days, the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija will make a declaration on how they will proceed.

Petkovic reminded that the Kosovo Minister for Local Self-Government Elbert Krasniqi had entered the Leposavic municipality building yesterday morning during the police shift "fraudulently".

"Our people reacted violently but calmly, they came to the building itself, the entrance, but at the request of KFOR they retreated to the fence where they usually protest," he said and added that they arrested Nebojsa Vlaskovic, who was born in 1990, in Leposavic.

Minister Svecla, as he added, had published Vlaskovic's picture and another photo where he had identified a masked guy as Vlaskovic and stated that he should be arrested for the attack on the Albanian press team.

"Family and friends published a photo where you can see that Nemanja Vlaskovic is standing at the end and calmly observes what is happening," Petkovic says and points out that Vlaskovic has nothing to do with the masked man.

"This is another lie and propaganda, about another innocent man being arrested. That boy has no record, he is the third child in the family, and people are engaged in agriculture. He is still in South Mitrovica because he is under police detention for 48 hours." Petkovic reported.

He points out that instead of de-escalating the situation, Kurti is resorting to new provocations and new attacks.

"When you look at the whole of yesterday, you can see that Kurti planned provocations so that the Serbs would react so that the international community would blame the Serbs. Kurti intends to cause a war, a conflict in the north, and he does it every day, and it is really high time that someone finally understood Kurti because "It is obvious that he wants to start a war and set fire to not only the North but the entire region. He is a Balkan arsonist who wants to set fire to the entire Western Balkans," Petkovic pointed out.

As he says, Kurti is being invited by the international community to withdraw the mayors and the police, and the Serbs are demanding the release of the arrested, and Kurti is sending new police and provoking.

"In addition to the whole situation, on the day when another innocent man is arrested, we have the reaction of the US and Great Britain, and we are shocked by the announcements in which Belgrade is requested to release the three arrested so-called policemen and none of them mentions that the Serbs who were arrested in the previous days should be released, as well as Vlaskovic who did nothing," he emphasized.

Petkovic points out that this is hypocrisy and says that the decision on the release of the arrested is not made by the Government but by the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of Serbia.

"We do not decide whether those policemen will be released or not, because a legal procedure has been initiated, the prosecution and the court decide on that, it is not decided in the embassies and with some kind of announcement. It is an absolute lie that Belgrade and the competent authorities treat them badly, not giving them medicine, and mistreating them. When Pristina says this, it is starting from itself, because Kurti and Pristina are the ones who mistreat the Serbs who have been arrested, they beat everyone they arrest," he said.

Stating that Serbia does not act like that because it is a serious country, Petkovic says that it is done exclusively in accordance with the law and adds that each of the arrested has his own room, receives medicine, they have to eat, and drink.

"I can't say that they are in the Hyatt, but in relation to the conditions of the arrested Serbs, it is as if they are in the "Four seasons". Stop saying what is not true, asking for the release of those who invaded the territory of central Serbia with long guns, and deal with the Serbs who were innocently arrested," he told the international community.

He states that in recent days and weeks, no Albanian was wounded, but the Serbs are arrested if they throw a rock and nobody remembers Dragisa Galjak.

He asked if anyone was responsible for Galjak, and that it was questionable whether he would be able to fully recover and ever walk again.

"What the US and the EU are not interested in that, who is responsible for the injured Serbs. When it comes to the Serbs, the Serbian victims, obviously no one is interested in that. I am asking the international community to reason with Kurti to stop the violent actions while it still makes sense, all it's going on for too long, instead of de-escalation we are witnessing an even worse escalation by Kurti and his Special Forces, and that must stop urgently; if it doesn't stop, we have nothing more to talk about. We are very worried, I ask the international community to reason with Kurti," Petkovic said.

When asked whether President Aleksandar Vucic would respond to the invitation of Josep Borrell and go to a meeting with Albin Kurti in Brussels, as well as what was happening with the dialogue, Petkovic said that in these circumstances he saw no room for discussion.

"In these circumstances, when Kurti attacks the Serbs when he wants to cause war and new conflicts, I don't see how we can continue the dialogue, because dialogue implies a conversation about the normalization of relations, and all this that Kurti does, is the opposite of that, it is violent. President Vucic will decide on that, but I don't see room for discussion," Petkovic said.

He reminded that the President of Serbia had not gone to talks in Brussels even when 100 percent taxes had been introduced on Serbian goods and pointed out that a similar situation was happening now with the ban on entry of trucks with Serbian license plates to Kosovo.