Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic qualified the police raid in the majority Serbian northern part of Kosovo today as an attempt to cause fear and panic among the Serbs and to expel them from Kosovo. The raid led to a series of confrontation, in which Kosovan police fired above groups of Serbs in attempts to disperse them, and a number of people were injured, mainly by beating.

I ordered that all our police and special purpose units are put in full readiness. We are aware of the disastrous consequences we face and Belgrade will continue to work to preserve peace and stability. We will not allow another operation Storm, Vucic said, referring to the 1995 Croatian military operation that expelled Serbian forces from Krajina, along with most of the local Serbs.
Speaking in the Parliament, Vucic blamed Kosovan President Hashim Thaci of pushing for a unification with Albania, which would create a Greater Albania.

Kosovan authorities insist that the massive police operation was driven by the need to dismantle an organized crime operation. They pointed to the fact that Albanians were arrested as well, along with Serbs, but Vucic called this a ploy driven by the need to portray the operation as not aimed against the minority Serbian population.

Russia said that the action is a provocation, as a Russian diplomat deployed in the international mission in Kosovo was also arrested, along with the two dozen mostly Serb locals. Most of those arrested are police officers themselves.