Seven years since the arrest of Marko Djuric and the first major ROSU incursion into northern Kosovo

On this day seven years ago, on March 26, 2018, the then Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and the chief negotiator for Belgrade, Marko Djuric, was arrested in North Mitrovica. He was taken to Pristina by heavily armed special units of the Kosovo Police and subsequently expelled from Kosovo. This incident marked the first major incursion of the ROSU special police unit into northern Kosovo.

The gathering at Mitrovica Hall, held as part of the internal dialogue on Kosovo and attended by the Serb List representatives, citizens, as well as Marko Djuric, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, officials from the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, and the then Secretary-General of the Serbian President, now Minister of Culture, Nikola Selakovic, was interrupted around 5:30 PM when special forces stormed the hall. Using firearms and tear gas, they arrested Djuric and his assistant Zeljko Jovic, who was injured while attempting to resist the arrest.

Clad in full gear and armed with long guns, the special forces appeared in North Mitrovica, stormed the hall, and used tear gas and stun grenades on citizens who tried to intervene.

Djuric was brought down to the ground and kicked, and citizens were ordered not to move while being held at gunpoint. They also struck the then Mayor of North Mitrovica, Goran Rakic, and other citizens with rifle butts.

More than 30 people were injured.

As reported by TV Most, at the time, during the police operation, gunshots, breaking glass, as well as shouts in Albanian, echoed through the city, while sirens blared.

Nikola Selakovic then informed journalists that during the arrest of Djuric, Nenad Rikalo, Zeljko Jovic, Zoran Todic, Ivan Milojevic, and Nebojsa Milanovic were seriously injured. Kosovo special forces also attacked and injured RTS cameraman Vladimir Djuric during the arrest operation of Marko Djuric.

Images and footage of the arrest, showing police brutally dragging Djuric through the streets and putting him into a vehicle, circulated worldwide.

He was subjected to harassment and humiliation and taken to the police station in Pristina, escorted by a convoy of vehicles. The building of the Kosovo Police where the detention unit is located was guarded by dozens of members of the ROSU special unit.

Djuric was taken out of the vehicle with handcuffs on his hands, head bowed, surrounded by about 100 masked members of the Kosovo Police. They quickly escorted him from the car to the police building, and his transfer to detention was accompanied by hundreds of Albanians shouting derogatory words in Serbian.

He was brought before a judge, after which it was decided that he would be deported from Kosovo, with the explanation that "intervention was made against him based on a ban on entry into Kosovo."

Accompanied by a large convoy of Kosovo Police vehicles, he was directed to the Merdare border crossing, where he was taken over by the Serbian Police.

Incidentally, the roundtable in North Mitrovica was scheduled to begin that day at 12:44 p.m., but it was delayed for several hours until Djuric and Selakovic arrived, despite the entry ban. Djuric then emphasized that he had come to convey to the Serbs that Kosovo and northern Kosovo would never be a part of the self-proclaimed Kosovo or "Greater Albania" to Serbia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo stated at the time that Djuric and Selakovic had not been granted permission to stay in Kosovo due to "indecent behavior and provocation committed by Djuric during previous visits and rhetoric that incites hatred among the citizens of Kosovo."

Following the arrest, on that day, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, convened an emergency session of the National Security Council. He called Djuric's arrest "a brutal provocation, an act of madness, and the most serious criminal act by the Pristina authorities, with obvious support from some countries." He also emphasized that Djuric's arrival had been announced three times in accordance with the agreements between Belgrade and Pristina and that he had not needed permission to come, only notification of his visit to Kosovo.

Representatives of the European Union spoke out after the arrest, with EU Spokesperson Maja Kocijancic calling on the authorities of Serbia and Kosovo to "show the necessary restraint and maturity so that the situation in Kosovo would not escalate further after the arrest."

The citizens of North Mitrovica were outraged by Djuric's arrest that day, telling the media that it had been one of the hardest days for them in the past decade and a half and that it was "high time to put an end to incidents that keep recurring."

However, seven years later, ethnically motivated incidents against the Serbs in Kosovo are recurring and increasing.