North Mitrovica

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.

According to a reporter from Kosovo Online, the Kosovo police who came from South Mitrovica broke into one of the city pharmacies to check Kosovo's customs papers.
After that, the people gathered, expressing dissatisfaction with the mentioned operation, and the situation escalated when the Kosovo police started throwing shock bombs and tear gas.

Kosovo's police inspectorate did not make clear on Friday whether or not it intends to further investigate the alleged beating by police of three ethnic Serbs near the border with Serbia, where tensions are high amid continuing protests parked by a dispute between Pristina and Belgrade over vehicle licence plates.

Two women cross the main bridge of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, 3 September 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

On Friday, Erden Atiq, a local Vetevendosje leader in mainly Serb North Mitrovica, spoke about a potential agreement between the Albanian parties to field a single mayoral candidate for the October 17 local elections.

The remains of three victims of the Kosovo war, exhumed last year from mass graves, were reburied on Friday at a graveyard in the northern city of Mitrovica.

Street artists have been decorating the walls of the Ibar bridge in Mitrovica with brightly-coloured murals during this month's Nomad festival, which is also part of a wider project called ARTivism which aims to connect communities through art.

The reason for the incursion is unknown, reports Prva TV reporter. It is also unknown where they are currently located.
According to unofficial information, a Kosovo police officer has been detained in northern Kosovo. A correspondent from Prva TV from Pristina also reports that the local media have no additional information.

Belgrade club delegation was not allowed to enter Kosovo and Metohija in order for its players to play the Serbian Cup match against Trepca from Kosovska Mitrovica.

The Kosovo Football Federation, FFK, has condemned plans by its Serbian counterpart to organise a competitive match without its permission in the disputed Serb-dominated north of the country, calling it a "serious provocation"

"I have to say that yesterday and today, we faced with half-empty shelves in the grocery shops in the North Mitrovica. I suspect that high politics stands behind this scenario", Hodzic stated.