Incident in the north, police arrest 12 people
Several people with their vehicles and national flags went tonight to celebrate Independence Day in north Mitrovica.
They were attacked with stones near the 'Prince Lazarus' monument by several Serbian citizens, but apart from damage to the vehicles, no one was injured.
Afterwards, some Serbian citizens took to the streets of the north in vehicles and Serbian flags, in response to what had happened earlier.
The Deputy Director of Police for the Northern Region, Veton Elshani, confirmed the incident to KosovaPress, saying that the Kosovo Police have detained 12 people, 10 of them minors, on suspicion of entering North Mitrovica with Albanian flags.
According to him, it is also suspected that they were attacked with stones by some Serbs.
"12 people have been detained, 10 minors, it is suspected that they entered North Mitrovica with Albanian flags. It is suspected that some Serbs then attacked them with stones. We have stopped two cars, in one car there were five minors. In the other car there were seven people. There is no crime yet, except for a driver's license and traffic violations, we are dealing with them for this matter," said Elshani.
He further explained that there is no crime for using the flags, while adding that the police are handling this case, since the persons are minors and that this case has been opened as 'criminal damage'. After the completion of our procedures, all 12 persons have been released, while 4 tickets have been issued.
Of these, three were for lack of a driver's license (2 of them minors) and 1 for having more people in the vehicle than allowed (7 people in a pickup truck).
