This morning, the anticipated gathering of citizens in front of the former Provisional Authority in North Mitrovica did not occur. In recent days, these citizens had demanded from the police to return to their workplaces after the buildings they were employed in were taken under the control of the Kosovo government on Friday. However, while the crowd failed to materialize, the removal of the remaining Serbian symbols did take place.
Following the earlier installation of signs from the Kosovo Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and the driver’s license issuing center, the Provisional Authority’s signage and the coat of arms of the Republic of Serbia were replaced today with Kosovo’s coat of arms on the pillar beside the entrance.
The Kosovo police also started loading the remaining inventory from the building today, which was not removed on Friday and is now considered evidence in ongoing investigations.
A similar situation is anticipated at the former district office in North Mitrovica, which housed the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO Fund).
According to reports, the heads of these institutions—excluding the district chief—have been summoned by the Kosovo police as suspects. The authorities currently accuse them of „document forgery.“
Last Friday, eight locations across all four municipalities in the North were searched, resulting in the closure of four facilities, including two in North Mitrovica: the Provisional Authority and the district office housing the PIO Fund and the Kosovo Office.
Meanwhile, heightened security measures have been implemented at the main bridge over the Ibar River. On the northern side, two armored vehicles and two jeeps are stationed, with soldiers on duty. The southern side has also been cordoned off with two jeeps and an armored vehicle. Two additional armored vehicles used for crowd control have been positioned in the middle of the bridge. According to KFOR, this is part of periodic training for its specialized unit (MSU).
Friday’s actions, which involved seizing new buildings and summoning institutional heads to the police, follow a year after the dissolution of the Provisional Authorities in the remaining three municipalities in the North. Facilities in Zvečan and Leposavić were also closed, where, according to the police, municipal services had been operating remotely in recent months.
The Provisional Authority in North Mitrovica was a continuation of the municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica, where Serbia had introduced provisional measures in majority-Serbian municipalities before the integration into the Kosovo system.
The Serbian government dissolved the municipal assemblies in Kosovo in 2013, just a year after their establishment following local elections held on May 6. Provisional authorities were then set up to replace them.
The decision to dissolve the municipalities in Northern Kosovo was made prior to the local elections held under the Kosovo system, which marked the first time such elections were conducted in that region. Although Serbian law required the Assembly President to call elections for new councilors within two months of the dissolution to establish a new local self-government unit, this did not occur.
Provisional authorities, numbering 29, were established to fulfill the role of local self-governments in the Serbian system, operating alongside municipalities in the Kosovo system. There have been instances where the president of a provisional authority also held a position such as councilor or deputy mayor in a municipality under the Kosovo system.
The Serbian Constitutional Court declared the decision to dissolve the municipal assemblies of Podujevo, Djakovica, Suva Reka, Decani, Prizren, Uroševac, and Klina, and the establishment of provisional authorities, unconstitutional and illegal on April 3, 2014.
In the “Internal Dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija” initiated by President Vučić in the summer of 2018, which never reached an official conclusion, then Minister of Local Self-Government Branko Ružić emphasized the importance of strengthening municipal cooperation to enhance the security of Serbs in Kosovo.
“Today, Serbia maintains its influence in Kosovo and Metohija through 29 provisional municipal authorities, preserving the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Serbia,” Ružić stated six years ago. He added that these authorities are crucial for the existence of several thousand Serbian families in the province, demonstrating support for the 150,000 Serbs living in Kosovo.
Read more:
Workers Rally Amid Continued Closures of Serbian Institutions in Northern Kosovo
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