Kosovo police carry out raids amid renewed violence and unrest with Serbia – JURIST

Kosovo police raided several locations on Friday in the country’s north, where weekend violence between Kosovars and Serbians left four people dead.

The renewed violence between Kosovars and Serbians began this past Sunday when the Diocese of Raška-Prizren reported that a group of masked men in an armored vehicle breached a locked gate and stormed the Banjska Monastery. The attack forced the monastery’s pilgrims to go on lock down while the masked men engaged in a police shootout. The shootout killed one police officer and three others.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti posted on X (formerly Twitter) that one policeman was killed and another was injured during an attack on the monastery. Kurti alleged the attack was perpetrated by Serbian-state supported terrorists. Jelal Svechla, one of Kurti’s cabinet members, posted what he claimed is a receipt for a grenade launcher seized at the monastery. Svechla claimed the receipt is a “certificate that the Serbian army gave to the [terrorists].”

The Diocese of Raška-Prizren, custodians of the Banjska Monastery, describes itself as a Serbian Orthodox Church. The diocese rejected the prime minister’s characterization of the attack as perpetrated by Serbs and instead suggests the attack was perpetrated by Albanian extremists.

Following the attacks, Milan Radoičić, the vice-president of the Serbian List, Serb minority political party in Kosovo, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement read by Radoičić’s attorney, Radoičić said, “I am informing all the on-duty persecutors of the Serbian people, from Kurti to his numerous foreign helpers, that I have personally made all the logistical preparations for the defense of our people against the occupiers.” Radoičić called the death of the policeman “an accident” and resigned from his post as vice-president of the Serbian List. Kosovo police then released a video of them raiding Radoičić’s home.

On Tuesday, Kosovo Police arrested two in connection with the attack and found an “an arsenal of weapons” in the monastery.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Serbia’s president shortly after the attacks and called for a deescalation of tensions between Serbia and Kosovo. Reuters reported that the US is currently monitoring a “large Serbian force” along the Kosovo border.