Serb List: Ordered removal of roof on café Vuk’s outdoor patio in North Mitrovica – New attack on Serbian business owners

The Serb List announced today that the removal of the roof on the summer patio of Café Vuk in North Mitrovica has been ordered, even though, as they point out, the owner holds a valid permit and regularly fulfills all obligations. They say this is yet another attack by Albin Kurti’s regime on Serbian business owners in North Mitrovica.

“Just a few days after a warning, there is a new attack by Albin Kurti’s regime on Serbian business owners in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. Today, the removal of the roof on the summer patio of Café Vuk was ordered, even though the owner has a valid permit and regularly meets all obligations. An additional scandal is the fact that the removal order was written exclusively in the Albanian language, with no right of appeal, which directly violates the right to legal remedy as well as the right to use the Serbian language and script,” the Serb List stated in a press release.

They point out that this procedure is yet another in a series of politically motivated pressures through which Kurti demonstrates a dictatorial and anti-Serbian mentality.

“He has not forgiven Serbian business owners for taking part in the cultural event ‘Mitrovica Days,’ and is now carrying out retaliatory measures against them,” the Serb List claims.

They recall that they have repeatedly warned international representatives about such conduct, but, as they note, their passivity has enabled Kurti to act freely against the Serbian people, even to the point of violating his own laws and regulations.

The Serb List therefore calls on the international community to finally end its policy of silence and react urgently to protect the basic human and economic rights of the Serbian people in Kosovo.

On Friday and over the weekend, the “Mitrovica Days” event, organized by Serbian restaurateurs, was held on the promenade in North Mitrovica. However, on Friday, at the same time, a jazz festival organized by Albanians from South Mitrovica also began on the promenade. Before the start of the festival, municipal inspectors demanded that music in the cafés be turned off at 4:00 p.m. The music was then turned off, but guests remained in and outside the establishments, whistling during the performances on stage.

“Mitrovica Days” continued on Saturday, with no jazz festival that day, but a warning was issued by the Regional Police Directorate in North Mitrovica to the restaurateurs—reminding them that they must comply with the prescribed time limits for playing music set out in the Law on Public Order and Peace, and that any violation of these provisions would be treated as an offense.