Ethnic Serbs erect more roadblocks as tensions rise in Kosovo | Politics news

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Kosovo demanded the removal of barricades erected by Serb protesters, while Serbia put its army on high alert.

Local Serbs have erected more roadblocks in northern Kosovo and defied demands to remove barricades erected earlier, a day after Serbia placed its forces near the border on a high level of combat readiness.

The new barriers, made up of truckloads, were installed in the early hours of Tuesday in the city of Mitrovica. The town is divided between Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians, who are the majority in Kosovo as a whole.

It is the first time since a crisis erupted in the region in early December that Serbs have blocked streets in a major town. Until now, barriers have been placed on the roads to the borders of Kosovo and Serbia.

These developments came after President Aleksandar Vucic ordered on Monday to put the Serbian army and police on high alert in response to recent events in the region.

Vucic claimed that Pristina was preparing to “attack” ethnic Serb areas in northern Kosovo and forcibly remove many roadblocks that Serbs began erecting 18 days ago to protest the arrest of a former Kosovo Serb policeman.

Kosovo police officers patrol an area in the northern part of Mitrovica [File: Florion Goga/Reuters]

The Kosovo government has not yet responded to Vucic’s allegations, but it has previously accused the Serbian leader of trying to foment unrest and provoke incidents that could serve as a pretext for armed intervention in the former Serbian province.

Meanwhile, Pristina has asked the NATO-led peacekeepers (the Kosovo Force, or KFOR) stationed in the country to remove roadblocks erected by ethnic Serbs and has hinted that its forces will do so if the KFOR takes no action.

About 4,000 NATO-led peacekeepers have been stationed in Kosovo since the 1999 war that ended with Belgrade losing control of the province.

Tensions flare up in the Balkans

The latest uproar first erupted on 10 December, when Serbs set up several roadblocks and exchanged fire with police after a Serbian ex-policeman was arrested for allegedly assaulting serving police officers during an earlier protest.

Ethnic Serbs are demanding the release of the arrested officer and they have other demands before they remove the barriers.

This follows an earlier issue over the issuance of license plates for cars. Kosovo has wanted Serbs in the north for years to swap their Serbian license plates for Pristina-issued ones, as part of the government’s desire to assert its authority over its territory.

The ethnic Serb mayors of the northern municipalities, along with local judges and about 600 police officers, resigned last month in protest of the Kosovo government’s recent decision that license plates issued from Serbia should be replaced with ones issued by Pristina.

Serbian police officers take off their uniforms in the city of Zvecan [File: Bojan Slavkovic/AP]

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but it is still home to a Serb minority in the north supported by Belgrade.

The declaration of independence came 10 years after a war between ethnic Albanian fighters and Serbian forces that left 13,000 people dead, most of them Albanians.

The war ended with a NATO intervention that pushed Serbian forces out of today’s Kosovo.

Serbia, backed by its allies Russia and China, does not recognize its former territory, but most Western countries do, including the United States.

About 50,000 Serbs living there refuse to recognize the authority of Pristina and still consider themselves part of Serbia.

Belgrade accuses Pristina of violating the rights of the Serb minority.

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