Residents of the North on police surveillance cameras: It's a lie that they do it for security reasons

The Kosovo Police are installing an increasing number of surveillance cameras in the municipalities of northern Kosovo, but residents of North Mitrovica and Zubin Potok told Kosovo Online reporters that they did not believe the cameras were being installed for security reasons.

In North Mitrovica, citizens often point out that these cameras could infringe on their privacy.

"We don't need this, we lived well without cameras. If they enjoy having cameras so much, let them have them, just don't point them toward bedrooms and intimate spaces. We can't do anything to them, and they can't do anything to us. Let them do their job, and we'll do ours," one Mitrovica resident told us.

Many have expressed that under police surveillance, they feel like they are part of a reality show.

"I feel like I'm in 'Big Brother.' Wherever I turn, I have to be careful how I move and what I do because it could cost me later," one young man says.

His fellow citizen shares a similar sentiment.

"I really feel like I'm in 'Big Brother.' Unforeseen or staged things happen, then they ask you what and how it happened, and there are a hundred cameras there. It is madness and arrogance," she said angrily.

An older resident says she doesn't care because people here have already been through many bad things.

"It is all the same to us, we are used to it. Police and all that. I'm indifferent when I pass by the police now, I'm not afraid anymore. We have survived much worse, so we have gotten used to everything," she said.

One resident of Zubin Potok also doubts that the cameras are being installed for security reasons.

"What security? Their security... That has nothing to do with it, I have no comment," he told us.

"I feel great, super, never better," one of his fellow citizens responded sarcastically.

Some residents openly say that they are afraid.

"It is all difficult for us citizens, I get chills just thinking about it. What can I say? There is nowhere to go out, we are scared to go out, and we are intimidated. You know it yourself. You can't even sleep at night, thinking about what might happen if someone encounters you..." one woman said.

An older woman in Zubin Potok told us that what was happening was terrible.

"It is hard for people, especially here in Kolasin. Everyone here is Serbian. Does my family need to move from here? It's terrible what is happening! I'm shaking all over. I don't know what will happen; if only they had left the northern part, let the devil take them. They have relocated those people; my sister moved out of Plemetina, she would have moved here, but no, everything is upside down," she said.