Non-governmental organization Human Centre Mitrovica in the strongest terms condemned the excessive use of force against citizens in the northern municipalities by Kosovo police ROSU unit, Radio kontakt plus reported.

“As a civil society organization it is our task to support the building of democratic society along with institutions that should carry out their duties in the society of rule of law. One cannot avoid the impression that an action to deprive of freedom persons suspected for an organized crime was used for political purposes and brutal display of force,” NGO said in a statement.

“The fact, that most arrested persons are from the Kosovo police ranks substantiates our opinion. They could be kept at work or invited for informative talks. However, it is more than obvious that police action on Thursday was a method to exercise a brutal force as yet another form of pressure against the community living north of the Ibar River.”

Commenting on KFOR statements related to the police action, NGO asked “if the statement of KFOR spokesperson Vincenzo Grasso that Kosovo police action took place in line with the prosecution’s order in an entire Kosovo, and not only in the north, adding it is not directed against the Serbs, but against the people accused of crime and corruption, means that KFOR by its inactivity steps out it mandate, and it is to preserve the peace.

“By series of acts such as not enabling Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to visit Banje village while his visit to Kosovo, situation related to Marko Djuric’s arrest in Mitrovica North and brutal ROSU intervention there in November last year, one may wonder what aim did KFOR exercises in the north of Kosovo two months ago have? The question that arises is whether KFOR plans to protect the Serbs same way it protected them during March pogrom in 2004,” statement further reads.

At the end, NGO voiced concern over the silence of Kosovo non-governmental organizations dealing with the human rights and lack of condemnation on their side related to the use of brutal force, something that should have been done by those who are the agents of democratic changes in a society.