EU calls for peace after police violence in North Kosovo

BELGRADE, March 27 (Xinhua) -- European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said here Tuesday that violent event such as the one on Monday in Kosovo must not repeat.

Mogherini made her remarks after an urgent meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

According to a statement released by the Serbian president's cabinet, Mogherini and Vucic talked about latest developments and the future of the dialogue on the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

"What happened yesterday must not repeat. The EU expects the preservation of peace along with wise and reserved approach," Mogherini said, according to the statement.

Vucic agreed with Mogherini, saying that "new ways are needed" so that Belgrade and Pristina could continue with their work on solving problems within the EU-mediated Brussels dialogue.

"President Vucic and the EU high representative Mogherini agreed that it is in the national and state interest of Serbia to maintain stability, peace and progress on the way to EU membership," it said.

Kosovo is a southern province of Serbia, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Serbia rejects it and considers Kosovo its own province.

On Monday, special units of Kosovo police detained the director of the Kosovo office in the Serbian government, Marko Djuric, for alleged illegal entry into Kosovo.

Djuric was detained in Mitrovica North as he was in a meeting with local Serbs.

Several people were injured in the operation, during which Kosovo police allegedly used shock bombs, tear gas and beaten gathered people. Nenad Rikalo, minister of agriculture in the government of Kosovo, was taken to intensive care due to more severe injuries of abdomen and breastbone.

Several hours after the incident, Vucic called the event "a brutal provocation, an act of insanity and the heaviest criminal act that the authorities in Pristina have undertaken in the province of Kosovo and Metohija".

Meanwhile, Serbian List, a political party representing Serbian population in Kosovo ruling coalition, decided on Tuesday to leave Kosovo institutions. Enditem