Kosovo Police Clash With Serbs in Anti-Smuggling Crackdown

Kosovo Police clashed with Kosovo Serb protesters in the divided northern town of Mitrovica on Wednesday as they conducted an operation against the smuggling of goods in the town.

Kosovo Serbs threw different explosive devices at the police and put up blockades of trucks on roads close to the technical high school in Serb-run North Mitrovica.

Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Police announced that six police officers, five ethnic Albanians and one ethnic Serb, were injured during the action in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo and returned to the other side of the river Ibar of the ethnically divided town.

One protester involved in attacking the police was wounded, the police announced. Serbian authorities claim that he was shot in the back by police and taken to a hospital in North Mitrovica. Surgeon Zlatan Elek confirmed the information to the local Kosovo Serb language news portal Kosovo online.

Police said they had launched a broad operation in 28 different locations against smuggling goods in several towns and cities, such as Pristina, Peja/ Pec and Mitrovica South and Mitrovica North.

On court and prosecution orders, "Checks and raids are being carried out in various locations such as residential houses, business premises, warehouses of goods, etc," they said.

"As a result of intensive investigations and professional actions of the Kosovo Police and Customs, so far various goods and evidence have been seized, which serve as material evidence," the statement reads. 

The police action rapidly ended but some local businesses in Serb-dominated North Mitrovica closed and local Serb citizens protested against the police operation there.

Police said they had arrested eight suspects...