Flood at Mitrovica Café “Sindikat”; Radomirovic: Damage irreparable, inspection to blame

The owner of the “Sindikat” café in North Mitrovica, Nikola Radomirovic, told Kosovo Online that significant material damage occurred in his establishment after it was closed by the municipal inspection on 13 November. He considers the inspectors — led by Fatmir Berzati, the now-dismissed head of inspection services in the Municipality of North Mitrovica — solely responsible.

The café “Sindikat” was shut down for 30 days on 13 November, when guests were ordered out, the doors were sealed, and staff were not allowed to remove drinks, cash, or anything else left on the tables.

“On 13 November, late in the evening, police entered our café together with inspectors. The place was full of guests. Around twenty of them stormed in — Berzati, the chief inspector, along with some sanitary inspectors. They demanded documentation and illegally filmed every guest with their phones — both the police and the inspectors. Then they asked for sanitary booklets, which had expired five days earlier. Based on that, they ordered the café to be emptied, even though they had no right to shut us down for that reason. They told everyone to leave and did not allow us to remove anything from the tables,” Radomirovic said.

To avoid damage to the café, as well as to nearby apartments and business premises, Radomirovic said he tried to contact the municipal inspection to verify whether electricity and water in the café had been safely disconnected. The inspectors, however, showed no willingness to respond.

“After that, we sent them emails asking them to come here so that we could open the place, check it, fix things, prevent damage from electricity or water. They didn’t reply, they weren’t at their workplace,” he explained.

Today, residents of the building where the café is located called Radomirovic to report water leaking from the premises, urging him to check the source. When he opened the café with police assistance, he found extensive damage.

“When we received a report from neighbors about flooding, we came here and called the police. The police arrived and contacted the inspector, but he refused to come again and told us to write an email. Then the police decided that we should break in — unlock the door and enter — where we found significant, irreparable damage. At this point, we don’t know the exact amount, but the café is flooded, and drinks are still on the tables,” Radomirovic said.

According to him, the only ones responsible for the major material damage that occurred while the café was closed are the inspectors of the Municipality of North Mitrovica, led by the now-dismissed chief Fatmir Berzati.

“This damage was directly caused by the inspector who threatened us that evening, telling us we would not be allowed to continue working and that we’d remain closed for a long time. Berzati said he closed the café in agreement with the police — that’s how he put it. They imposed a 30-day closure that night due to alleged illegal food storage and because we were not registered with the veterinary service. But we don’t serve food here, we don’t have a kitchen — all our guests know that. They know it too, but they intentionally looked for a pretext to shut us down. After that, we kept contacting them, and they still refused to come — and caused this damage. They are directly responsible for everything that happened,” Radomirovic concluded.