During a police operation in northern Kosovo, a patrol was fired upon and a police officer was injured. A member of the Kosovar police was “slightly injured (…) and the police car suffered considerable material damage”, Kosovar police announced today. So, the attackers opened fire with guns from a car.
The police officers – mostly ethnic Albanians – were dispatched to the north of the country to replace Serbian police officers who had collectively resigned over a dispute over license plates. Kosovo wants to force some 10,000 members of the Serbian minority to no longer drive with Serbian license plates, but to accept those of the Republic of Kosovo. However, Serbs in northern Kosovo do not recognize the government’s authority in Pristina.
Although Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti agreed to delay the implementation of the license plate decision for several months, Serbian officers and police did not return to their posts.
The deployment of Kosovar police could further fuel tensions between Belgrade and Pristina. The head of the Serbian government’s cabinet for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, condemned the police operation in the north and threatened a possible return of Serb forces to the region.