Sveçla on police raid at the institution for Sports: Usurped public spaces are being returned to Kosovo institutions

Regarding the raid by Kosovo Police on the Institution for Sports, Youth, and Specialized Services in North Mitrovica, Acting Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Sveçla stated that public spaces that had "for decades been usurped by Serbia's parallel structures" are being returned to the use of Kosovo’s municipalities and institutions.

“As part of the closure of parallel institutions, today a building previously used by such structures—specifically by the so-called Office for Sports, Youth, and Specialized Services—was returned to the ownership of the Municipality of North Mitrovica. A similar operation was also carried out at the water pump station in the village of Suvi Do, in North Mitrovica,” Sveçla wrote on Facebook.

He declared that “the era of tolerating parallel institutions in place of Kosovo’s institutions is over.”

“And it will not return,” Sveçla added.

He emphasized that law and order prevail in every part of Kosovo, and that there are institutions in place serving all citizens.

Around 1:00 p.m., several plainclothes police inspectors entered the building housing the Institution for Sports, Youth, and Specialized Services in North Mitrovica, which operates within the Serbian system.

Yesterday, members of the Kosovo Police and plainclothes inspectors also raided the offices of the public utility company “Vodovod Ibar” in North Mitrovica, which is part of the Serbian system. Today, employees were told to remove their personal belongings from the offices.