Kurti names protest organizers, Serb List denies claims

REUTERS/Laura Hasani

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti released the names of people he claims were the organizers of this week’s riots in northern municipalities, prompting a denial from the Serb List.

According to Kurti, the main organizers were members of what the authorities in Pristina call illegal civil protection formations and former Kosovo police officers. “We managed to get valid identification during the protests,” he said in parliament.

Kurti said that one of the leaders of the illegal formations is linked to the Belgrade-backed Serb List as well as Red Star football club supporters. “The mistakes made by the Serb List should not be paid for by Kosovo but by them,” he said.

The KoSSev news portal said Kurti identified the organizers and masked men involved in the riots by their initials.

The Serb List responded with a denial of Kurti’s claims, characterizing his regime as fascist. “Are professors, doctors, nurses, miners, political representatives a mob as Albin Kurti said in parliament today? The fact that Kurti named honorable people, women, invalids and patients in hospital as criminals and protest organizers shows that everything he said is a farce,” the Serb List statement said.

“Kurti’s statement today is full of lies and that proves he wants further escalation, higher tension and conflict while the Serbs wants peace, freedom and their municipality buildings back along with an end to the persecution of people who refuse to be Kurti’s servants,” the statement said.