This article is also available in: Shqip Macedonian Bos/Hrv/Srp

Archive photo: Kosovo Police.

Kosovo’s Minister for Returns and Communities, Dalibor Jevtic, condemned the incident on Monday which saw one person injured when ethnic Albanian residents in Pjeterq/Petric in the Klina municipality blocked a road in protest against the visiting Serbs.

“This is unacceptable, and we must stand in the way of this and similar incidents,” Jevtic said.

One displaced Serb was injured by Albanian protesters while another, identified only by the initials L.B., was detained by police after he was identified by Albanian protesters as a suspect in the killings of Albanian civilians in March 1999.

Police said that the suspect is being held at Peja/Pec police station “for further verification”.

Police said the clash erupted when around 60 ethnic Albanian residents of the village blocked the road in protest at the visit by 50 displaced Serbs, who arrived on Monday morning for a religious celebration at the local Orthodox church.

“During the ceremony… one Serb resident, R.K. (1995), now residing in Serbia, was injured. He was sent to Peja/Pec Regional Hospital for further treatment and according to the medical team, he is in a stable condition,” a police statement said.

Police said that the Serbians left the village with a police escort, and that they are now seeking the alleged perpetrator of the attack on the injured man.

Jevtic said there are too many “unacceptable” incidents like this in Kosovo.

“We have had many such situations. It is sad that this way, displaced Serbs are aware that they are not welcomed in Kosovo,” he added.

The head of the Serbian government’s Kosovo office, Marko Djuric, also condemned the incident.

“Such ostracism, intolerance and hatred has no place in modern Europe and I insist, in the name of humanity, but also in the name of European values, that the violence against Orthodox people in Kosovo and Metohija stops,” said Djuric.

Although there are no official figures, Human Rights Watch has estimated that over 164,000 Serbs left Kosovo after the end of the war in June 1999.

NOTE: This article was amended on May 30, 2018 to clarify that the incident took place in the village of Pjeterq/Petric.