SERBIA PLACES ARMY ON FULL COMBAT ALERT AS KOSOVO SERBS CLASH WITH POLICE

Sat 27 May 2023:

Small ethnic Serb groups in northern Kosovo have fought with police while attempting to barricade municipal building entrances to keep newly elected officials from entering.

On Friday, many vehicles were set on fire and the police used tear gas.

Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, put the army on a “higher state of alert” in response to the clashing, according to a written statement that was shown on state-run RTS television.

Pripadnici policije i specijalnih jedinica upali su u zgrade općina Zvečan i Zubin Potok, gdje su se ranije okupili Srbi kako bi spriječili preuzimanje općina, a prilikom upada bačene su šok-bombe i suzavci. pic.twitter.com/T4tJghh2Gg

— Al Jazeera Balkans (@AJBalkans) May 26, 2023

“An urgent movement [of troops] to the Kosovo border has been ordered,” defence minister Milos Vucevic said in a live TV broadcast. “It is clear that the terror against the Serb community in Kosovo is happening,” he said.

Media reports also said that because of “violence” against Kosovo Serbs, Vucic demanded that NATO-led troops stationed in Kosovo protect them from the Kosovo police.

The move came after police in Kosovo clashed with local Serbs who gathered in front of the municipal building to block the newly-elected ethnic Albanian mayor from entering his office.

Numerous police in riot gear were deployed around the premises, along with the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo and NATO Kosovo Forces personnel.

According to local media, stun grenades and tear gas injured at least 10 people after a police vehicle was set on fire and automatic gunfire was heard.

Načelnici na Sjeveru Kosova zatražili asistenciju policije da bi mogli normalno raditi, oglasile su se sirene, građani došli pred opštinske zgrade, a predsjednik Srbije Aleksandar Vučić podigao borbenu spremnost Vojske Srbije. pic.twitter.com/M9bqitENti

— Al Jazeera Balkans (@AJBalkans) May 26, 2023

‘Serbia bears full responsibility’

In a statement, the Kosovo police said five of its officers were slightly injured when protesters pelted them with rocks and other objects. Four police vehicles were attacked, including one that was set ablaze, the statement said. Gunfire was also heard in the area, it said.

About 10 people sought medical attention in a local hospital for light injuries and the effects of tear gas, local Serb health authorities said.

Blerim Vela, chief of staff of Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani accused “Serbia’s illegal and criminal structures” for escalating tensions and actions against law enforcement bodies.

“Violence will not prevail. Serbia bears full responsibility for the escalation,” he said in a statement.

Several vehicles from the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo have been seen in the vicinity of the site of the incident, while helicopters flew over the area, a Reuters reporter said.

US condemned

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the police action on Friday, saying that it was taken against the advice of Washington.

“These actions have sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions, undermining our efforts to help normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia and will have consequences for our bilateral relations with Kosovo,” Blinken said in a statement.

“We call on Prime Minister Albin Kurti to reverse course and on all sides to refrain from any further actions that will inflame tensions and promote conflict.”

Local elections

The April 23 snap election was largely boycotted by ethnic Serbs and only ethnic Albanian or other smaller minority representatives were elected in the mayoral posts and assemblies.

Local elections were held in four Serb-dominated communes in northern Kosovo after Serb representatives left their posts in protest last year and the Serbian community has demanded the establishment of a promised association of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo, which would coordinate work on education, healthcare, land planning and economic development at the local level.

With Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs demanding autonomy, Kosovar Albanians fear that the association may turn into a new mini-state like Srpska Republika in Bosnia.

The establishment of the association was originally a part of the 2013 Pristina-Belgrade agreement, but was later declared unconstitutional by Kosovo’s Constitutional Court, which ruled that it was not inclusive of other ethnicities and could entail the use of executive powers to impose laws.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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