On December 26, Kosovo authorities closed two Serbian public enterprises in North Mitrovica – the Directorate for Residential and Business Space and the Directorate for Construction Land – which operated within the Serbian system.

The deputy director of the police for the northern region, Veton Elshani, said that the closure was carried out after the request of the local authorities to “free some offices”. These offices were located in a residential building and were found to be illegal and parallel structures by the competent prosecution.

The police have initiated a case for “falsification of documents”, while the building will remain under surveillance until the case is resolved.

The closure of these offices has caused reactions from Belgrade. The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia described the action as a “usurpation” of Serbian institutions and called for international intervention to stop the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, from “causing conflicts”.

Serbian List, the main party of Serbs in Kosovo, said that the 70 employees of these institutions will continue to receive their salaries and will not be affected by the closure.

Serbian parallel institutions in Kosovo have been considered illegal by the Kosovar authorities, and their closure has started since the beginning of the year.