Immediately after the photographs and full names of five alleged new Serbian members of the Kosovo Police in North Mitrovica were shared on social media, which was initially published on a media channel on Telegram, with extremely negative content, the new head of EULEX, who comes from an Italian carabinieri unit, Giovanni Pietro Barbano, reacted.
“I am very concerned about media reports regarding threatening messages against newly deployed Kosovo Police Officers from non-majority communities. Any kind of intimidation are unacceptable, and I stress the importance Kosovo Police reflect and represent entire Kosovo population,” he tweeted.
On Tuesday, for the first time since taking office, Barbano officially met with Kosovo’s Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Svecla.
What happened?
KoSSev wrote on Monday that the police station in the north gained 74 new police officers, all of them from non-Albanian communities. More than half (45) are ethnic Serbs, 16 are Bosniaks, 3 are Turks and 8 are members of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. The news was soon picked up by other media in Belgrade and Pristina.
The officers are part of a group of 418 Kosovo Police cadets who recently completed their training. The Kosovo Police is currently recruiting new officers in all regions, including in the north, as announced at the beginning of the month.
At a ceremony marking the end of the six-month police training course, which was held the week before last in Pristina, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti emphasized that this service is “the most reliable institution in Kosovo, a continuation of the Kosovo Liberation Army.“
While the Kosovo Prime Minister congratulated the policemen on their new duties yesterday, a different kind campaign was launched on social network accounts belonging to Serbian users.
Young Serbs who allegedly became part of the KP are being criticized for “selling out” with messages that „honor and shame live forever“.
A parallel was drawn – that while „our brothers are being arrested, kidnapped, and beaten in the Shiptar casemates“, this group of Serbs is going to South Mitrovica for training.
In the text that has been circulating on social networks since yesterday, signed by „buntcg“, in addition to photos and full names, it is stated in a warning tone that this „is not a full list“.
The contents of the Bunt telegram page were one of the main news pieces yesterday in media reporting in Albanian.
„You wouldn’t believe the number of lists and the number of people on them that we possess. The lists and numbers are only growing, and the days when all of them will be used are getting closer“ – reads the text with the note that in the „agreement with the people of Kosovo and Metohija“, they will decide whether to publish the entire list.
Signing the text with „This people’s service is very strong, it does not leave out a single degenerate behind“, the information about revealing the identity of these young men and women came only after the media reported that the new police officers had taken up their duties; therefore, after the young men and women first applied, then were selected, attended a six-month training, and two weeks ago had a graduation ceremony in Pristina, which was broadcast live.
In early November 2022, ethnic Serb officers of the Kosovo Police, who were part of this service for a decade since their integration from the Serbian MIA into the Kosovan MIA, took off their uniforms with the Kosovan coat of arms in front of cameras, while their chief of operations declared: “We decided to stand by our people. Enough is enough!“
Aleksandar Filipovic and the longtime chief of the north region of the Kosovo Police – Nenad Djuric, were soon awarded by the President of Serbia.
In the middle of this month, the Prime Minister of Kosovo shared information that 547 Serbian policemen left this institution, and that there are now 800 policemen in the north – not all of whom come from the Albanian community.
Since Serbs left the police force, their jobs have been taken by Albanian policemen from other regions throughout Kosovo. The work of the regular police, however, has been overshadowed for months by the presence and deployment of special police units in the North, with at least four bases and several checkpoints.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
