The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed in Ljubljana on Monday his grave concern over the escalation of violence in the north of Kosovo.
"Violence does not lead anywhere," Solana was quoted as saying by the Slovenian news agency STA.
Solana meanwhile called on all parties involved to do all in their power to calm down the situation.
Addressing a joint press conference with Solana, Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk said, "we hope reason will prevail and the situation will calm down."
Earlier on Monday, Serbian President Boris Tadic called on the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police and NATO-led peacekeepers (KFOR) to refrain from the use of force against Serbs protesting against the seizure of a local court in Mitrovica.
Riots erupted in the northern part of Mitrovica at 5:30 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Monday after several hundred UN special police backed by French NATO peacekeepers stormed a UN court in the town and arrested dozens of Serbs, former court employees, who had seized the building on Friday, demanding they return to work nine years after they were left jobless in 1999.
More than 50 court protesters were arrested and taken to prison in Pristina, a KFOR spokesman said.
UNMIK spokesman Gyorgy Kakuk said on Monday that all the people that had been arrested in northern Mitrovica earlier would face a summary trial and be released shortly after that because they had committed only minor crimes.
Several dozen civilians and international policemen were injured in the early Monday clashes outside the building of the District and Municipal Court in Mitrovica, the Serbian national news agency Tanjug reported.
Two of the 50 Serbs injured in the riots in Mitrovica are in a critical condition, Tanjug reported, citing sources at the Mitrovica hospital.
Source:Xinhua
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