UK calls for ‘immediate release’ of detained Kosovar police officers

LONDON (AA): Britain on Friday called on Serbia to release three Kosovar police officers, also urging the two countries to show “maximum restraint” amid recent tensions.

“We call for the immediate release of the three Kosovo policemen detained on 14 June,” said a Foreign Office statement, referring to the police officers taken into custody on Wednesday.

On the unrest surrounding ethnic Albanians elected mayors in ethnic Serb-dominated towns in northern Kosovo, near the border, the statement added: “We reiterate our calls for (Kosovar) Prime Minister (Albin) Kurti and his government to ensure that elected mayors carry out their transitional duties from alternate locations outside municipal buildings and that special police units are withdrawn from municipal buildings.”

The statement also urged Kosovo and Serbia to “exercise maximum restraint,” and to avoid unilateral measures and take immediate action to reduce tensions.

The Foreign Office said it expects and encourages Kosovo Serbs to take part in mayoral elections.

“We expect Kosovo and Serbia to engage immediately in the EU-facilitated Dialogue and in particular to start work without further delay to establish an Association of Serb Majority Municipalities,” the statement added.

Tensions rose in Kosovo following the election of ethnic Albanian mayors in four northern districts in April. Albanians are Kosovo’s main ethnic group, but ethnic Serbs predominate in the north, near the border with Serbia.

The Serbs have been protesting the election of the mayors since late May.

At least 30 NATO peacekeeping KFOR soldiers were injured on May 29 while clashing with protesting Serbs who were trying to block one of the new mayors from taking his oath of office.

More than 53 civilians were also injured by shock bombs and tear gas, according to hospital sources.

On May 26, Serbia’s president ordered the army to move closer to the border with Kosovo and placed it on high alert.