Hundreds of Kosovo Serbs set up barricades on a road in northern Kosovo today, blocking traffic at two important crossing points on the border with Serbia, police said, according to Agence France-Presse.
Trucks, ambulances and agricultural machinery were deployed to block traffic in a tense environment marked in recent days by explosions, shootings and an attack targeting a police patrol. An Albanian Kosovo police officer was wounded in that attack.
According to local media, protesters from Kosovo's Serb minority are outraged by the arrest of a former Serb police officer suspected of involvement in attacks on Kosovo police officers.
Sirens sounded in several towns in northern Kosovo where the Serb population is a majority to launch the movement organised today, according to a French Agency reporter.
Protesters explained to Agence France-Presse that they wanted to prevent "the transfer to Pristina" of the arrested former police officer.
Kosovo Interior Minister Jelal Svecia said the arrested former police officer was one of two suspects arrested after attacks on police patrols in the past two days.
The latest tensions erupted after Pristina's decision to hold local elections on December 18 in Serb-majority municipalities, which the main Serb political parties have announced they want to boycott.
Explosions and gunfire were heard on Thursday as election officials visited two municipalities in northern Kosovo to prepare for the vote, but no injuries were reported.
Postponement of local elections
Shortly after the barricades were set up, Kosovar President Viosa Osmani announced that she had decided to postpone local elections until April 23.
The attack in which the policeman was wounded on Thursday occurred after Kosovo Albanian police deployed to northern Kosovo. According to the government, the deployment was decided following the collective resignation of Serbs working in institutions, including the police.
Serbs who were members of the law enforcement forces and civil servants resigned in protest at the decision of the Kosovar authorities to replace the license plates issued by Belgrade with those issued by Pristina.
In September, Serb protesters had blocked traffic at the two main border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia to express their anger over the license plates.
Kosovo's Serb minority, which totals nearly 120,000 members, does not recognize Pristina's authority with the encouragement of Belgrade, which does not recognize Kosovo's independence.
Source: APM
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