Inspectors of the Central Bank of Kosovo, accompanied by the police, took away part of the documentation and equipment from the Jugobanka branch in Gracanica.
One of the bank’s clerks was taken to the police station for questioning, Tanjug quoted RTK.
The branch office in the Serb enclave was not closed afterwards, Jugobanka, “the only Serbian bank in Kosovo,” said in a statement quoted by the agency.
Radio Kontakt Plus from Kosovska Mitrovica reported that the inspectors, with the help of the Kosovo police, attempted to break into the Jugobanka premises in the northern part of that city, but that employees and about a hundred citizens blocked the entrance to the building.
The Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo strongly condemned the violent intrusion by the enforcement agents and the police into the premises of Jugobanka in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, and in Gracanica and Strpce, stating that it had been done to ” financially block the life of Kosovo Serbs.”
Jugobanka operates in line with international regulations and within the framework of the financial system of Serbia and its central bank, and the incursion can be interpreted as an excuse to cause societal insecurity and instability, the Office for Kosovo said.
In addition, blocking Jugobanka’s operation would have incalculable consequences for the Serb people and its institutions in the province, the Office for Kosovo said, observing that “the inroad was a new in a series of provocations by Pristina.”
