KosovaPress: Serbs preparing to close up shops to scheme humanitarian crisis in north

Shop in Kosovska Mitrovica

The Serb-populated North Kosovo was going to shut down shops to stage an alleged humanitarian disaster, Pristina-based KosovaPress news agency reported on June 26.

The shops in the north are short of a number of goods produced in Serbia, according to the agency.

"Shops are short of milk and almost all kinds of goods, various types of detergents produced in Serbia. According to KosovaPress’ sources, a number of shops will be shut down on June 27 only to add to the atmosphere ahead of June 28, St. Vitus Day (Serbian national and religious holiday), when many people from the central Serbia visit the North and Gazimestan (a memorial site and monument commemorating the Battle of Kosovo) and to present ‘a difficult humanitarian situation,’” the agency wrote.

In support to the alleged “spin,” KosovaPress published a document, which has reportedly been circulated among the municipalities in the North since June 25, requiring from the people not to by anything from the Albanians, despite the shortage of goods from Serbia. The document published by KosovaPress is written in the Serbian Cyrillic and signed by “the Association of Businesspeople from Kosovo and Metohija.”

According to Kosovo police sources, Serb Civil Defense members would be deployed around the bridges over Ibar River, dividing the towns of (South) Mitrovica and North Mitrovica, to monitor the local Serbs for carrying goods from South Mitrovica, the report said.

Kosovo Premier Ramush Haradinaj on June 25 said he had information on attempts to plot an alleged humanitarian disaster in the North, also involving Belgrade, by removing goods from shops.

“We will not allow for a shortage of any kind of goods, as it is the citizens of Kosovo in question,” Haradinaj said.

In November 2018, the Pristina government imposed 100 percent tariffs on goods coming from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.