Serbian soldiers on the border of Kosovo were placed on high alert following clashes between ethnic Serbs and police inside Kosovo that left more than 12 people injured.
The majority of ethnic Serbs living in the northern Kosovo tried to prevent newly elected ethnic Albanian officials entering municipal buildings on Friday morning. The ethnic Serbs boycotted last month’s snap elections, and only minorities like ethnic Albanians or smaller groups were elected to the assemblies and mayoral positions.
The Kosovo police used tear gas to disperse and allow the new officials in the offices. A number of cars were set on fire. Officials from Kosovo Serb hospitals said that about 10 protesters had been injured. Five police officers were injured when protesters hurled stun-grenades and objects. A police vehicle was set ablaze.
Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic responded to the clashes by putting the army in the “highest level of alert”. He also ordered an urgent movement of troops nearer the border. He demanded NATO troops stationed at the borderprotect ethnic Serbs.
The United States have condemned the Kosovo government for forcing its way into municipal buildings by using police.
The U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken stated that “these actions have sharply escalated tensions and undermined our efforts to normalize relations between Kosovo Serbia, and will have implications for our bilateral relationships with Kosovo.”
Vucic addressed a rally in Belgrade on Friday night, as tens and thousands of people showed up to show their support for the government following the two mass shootings that occurred earlier in this month which killed 18 people.
He told the crowd, “We will maintain peace – but I’m telling you that Serbia will not sit idle when Serbs are attacked in the northern Kosovo,”
Vucic warned before that Belgrade will respond to violent acts against Serbs and has increased combat readiness at various times in moments of tension between Kosovo and Serbia.
Any attempt by Serbia, however, to send troops across the border could lead to a clash between NATO forces stationed in that area.
Zdravko PONO, a former Serbian Army Chief turned opposition politician, called Vucic’s response “inappropriate.”
Ponos, a regional television network in Serbia, told N1 that “this is just saber rattling” to save Vucic’s face.
Kosovo Police acknowledged their increased presence to “assist mayors of northern communes Zvecan Leposavic Zubin Potok in exercising their right to work.”
According to Albanian media outlet indexonline.net which published photos, small groups of Serbs raised their hands to prevent new mayors from entering municipal buildings. They were apparently doing this to demonstrate that they weren’t there to participate in violence.
The news website Kosovoonline.com reported clashes between police and citizens in Zvecan in front of municipal buildings, while the main square in Leposavic was blocked by cars and trucks.
After Serb representatives quit their positions last year, local elections were held in four Serb dominated communes of northern Kosovo. The Serb representatives had resigned out of protest after the Kosovo authorities refused to allow a local ethnic Serbian group to coordinate education, health, land planning, and economic development.
The Kosovo Constitutional Court declared an agreement signed between Pristina and Belgrade in 2013 on the formation of the Serb Association unconstitutional. It said that the plan did not include other ethnicities, and it could have involved the use of executive power to impose laws.
Both sides have agreed to support a plan for the EU on how to proceed. However, tensions are still high.
The U.S. The EU and the U.S. have increased their efforts to resolve the Kosovo-Serbia conflict, as they fear further instability in Europe due to the war in Ukraine. Both Serbia and Kosovo have been told by the EU that they must improve relations in order to progress with their plans to join the EU.
In 1998, ethnic Albanian separatists rebelled and Serbia’s government was brutally repressed. Around 13,000 people died, mostly ethnic Albanians. NATO’s 1999 military intervention forced Serbia to withdraw from the territory. Washington and the majority of EU countries recognize Kosovo as an Independent State. However, Serbia, Russia, and China do not.
