The NATO mission in Kosovo, the KFORhad to intervene this Monday to contain the violent protests of the Serbs in the north of Kosovowho refuse to accept the authority of the mayors of four municipalities where they are in the majority, and who have left at least 50 protesters and 25 soldiers injured.

KFOR reported that 25 of its soldiers, of Hungarian and Italian nationality, were injured with fractures, bruises and burns caused by incendiary devices.

The NATO mission resorted to the use of tear gas and stun bombs to disperse the protesters, who were blocking access to the Town Hall in the town of Zvecan, where the most violent clashes have been recorded.

More than 50 people were treated in a hospital for ailments caused by tear gas poisoning and bruises, three of them were hospitalized and one person suffered serious gunshot wounds and his life is in danger, reported the director of the Mitrovica Clinical Center, Zlatan Elek, according to the N1 station.

Serbs, a majority in those municipalities but a minority in Kosovo, They do not recognize the authority of the mayorsbelonging to the Albanian majority from the country.

The councilors were elected last April in an election that the Serbs boycotted and in which the participation barely exceeded 3%. The United States and the European Union have condemned the attacks by international troops and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “strongest condemnation of the attack.”

Among those injured in the riots in Kosovo are 11 Italian soldiers, three seriously although his life is not in dangerannounced on social networks the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani.

political reactions

The President of Serbia, Alexander Vucicaccused the prime minister of Kosovo, albin kurti of provoke the incidentshaving used special police forces to force the entry of the mayors to the Town Halls three days ago, which were blocked by Serb protesters.

The United States and several European countries have already condemned Kosovo’s use of force, and the United States has even proposed that mayors exercise their functions from other buildings, to help calm the situation.

Vucic called on the Kosovo Serbs to demonstrate peacefully and to “do not enter into conflicts with NATO“.

Kosovo, a former Serbian province populated by a large majority of Albanians, proclaimed its independence in 2008which Serbia does not recognize.

Both countries are negotiating the normalization of their relations on a new plan of the European Unionsupported by the United States, in a process frequently interrupted by the outbreak of tensions.