The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has criticized the decision of the Serbian authorities to ban the holding of the “Mirëdita, dobar dan” festival on Thursday in Belgrade, saying that Serbia offered the stage to “hooligan groups” instead of leaving it to the artists.

“Unfortunately, Serbia again showed its implacable hostility to anything related to peace and reconciliation,” Kurti wrote on X shortly after midnight on Thursday.

The “Mirëdita, dobar dan” festival, which promotes cultural cooperation between Kosovo and Serbia, was banned by order of the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia, on June 27, shortly before its planned opening in Belgrade.

“After refusing again to sign the Framework Agreement, which was brokered by the EU and supported by the US, Serbia on Thursday also blocked an EU-sponsored initiative, ‘Mirëdita, dobar dan,'” said Kurti, of who presented on Wednesday in Brussels three conditions for further engagement in the process of normalizing relations with Serbia.

The authorities banned the holding of the festival after protests by ultra-right groups and hooligans.

According to the journalists of Radio Free Europe, in Dorqol square, where the festival is held, the group of protesters was heard chanting “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, they sang nationalist songs and insulted the citizens of Kosovo.