North Mitrovica

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - The director of the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital, Zlatan Elek, said on Wednesday a 58-year-old Serb man wounded in Monday's clashes in Zvecan, a Serb-majority municipality in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, was in critical condition and remained in intensive care.

Unknown persons on Monday in a Serb-majority municipality in northern Kosovo, Leposavic, damaged the cars of BIRN and Kosovo-Albanian language broadcaster RTV Dukagjini, which were following local protests against the newly-elected mayor of the town.

A large number of KFOR members were deployed this morning near the main bridge over the Ibar, which divides North and South Mitrovica.
They are also deployed near the municipal building in Zvean.

BELGRADE - Former North Mitrovica Mayor Milan Radojevic said on Monday the situation in the north of Kosovo-Metohija was extremely difficult and that this had especially been the case since local Serbs left Pristina's institutions last November, and noted that no one in the international community was concerned about when Pristina's PM Albin Kurti would stop a repression against the Serbs.

In North Mitrovica, the newly elected mayor Erden Ati was sworn in today, they told Kosovo Online from EULEX, stressing that their forces are on alert 24 hours a day and are ready to react quickly.

The newly elected mayor of the Kosovo-Serb majority municipality of North Mitrovica took his oath of office on Friday in a tense atmosphere following extraordinary local elections a month ago that most local Serbs shunned. 

Erden Atic is a member of the ruling Vetvendosje party, which has few members in the town.

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija Milovan Drecun said on Monday Pristina was using institutional violence and that last week's local elections in the north of Kosovo-Metohija were a "simulation."

The European Union on Monday criticised the elections held on Sunday in mainly Serbian north Kosovo, saying the very low turnout meant they offered no "long-term solution" to the crisis in the north.

In Kosovo, extraordinary local elections will be held on 23 April 2023 in four predominantly Serb municipalities in the north of Kosovo (Severna Mitrovica, Leposavić, Zubin Potok and Zvečan) to elect the municipal mayors as well as councilors for the municipal councils in Leposavić and Zvečan.

They move along the main road Zvean-Raka and carry banners that say "Get out of here", "Europe, they are shooting at us", "You don't belong here".
They are moving towards the Bistrica Bridge, where Milan Jovanovi was wounded. At the head of the protest is Jovanovi's wife.
A large number of citizens also gather on the other side of the bridge from the direction of Leposavi.