Bogdanovic: Riots in Kosovska Mitrovica show the necessity of dialogue
Serbian Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic said Saturday night riots in Kosovska Mitrovica when seven people were injured after the end of the semi-finals basketball match between Serbia and Turkey, were another proof that dialogue between Serbs and Albanians is necessary and should be organized as soon as possible.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, September 13, 2010
He told Tanjug news agency he regretted the fact that a sports event had been used as an occasion for conflicts and called on Kosovo Serbs not to be taken in by the provocations of Kosovo Albanians. Seven people were injured Saturday night in Kosovska Mitrovica, in riots that broke out after the end of the semi-finals basketball match between Serbia and Turkey in Istanbul.
Serbian state secretary for Kosovo Oliver Ivanovic said that five hundred Kosovo Albanians had tried to enter the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, where Serbs live. The same number of Serbs gathered at the bridge, but EULEX intervened soon and closed the bridge, Ivanovic told RTS.
Seven persons were injured. Doctors in the Mitrovica hospital said five Serb boys had been injured and that the most serious injuries were sustained by Milos Radenkovic, who has a firearm bullet wound in the left arm region. A regional spokesperson of the Kosovo Police Service, Besim Hoti, said that a EULEX police member was also among the injured and that he had been shot in the leg on the bridge over the river Ibar.
