NATO peacekeeping soldiers yesterday formed security cordons around four town halls in Kosovo to keep back Serbs protesting at ethnic Albanian mayors taking office in a Serb majority area after elections they boycotted.
In Zvecan, one of the towns, Kosovo state police — staffed entirely by ethnic Albanians after all Serbs quit the force last year — sprayed pepper gas to repel a crowd of Serbs who broke through a security barricade and tried to force their way into the municipality building, witnesses said.
In Leposavic, close to the border with Serbia, US peacekeeping troops in anti-riot gear placed barbed wire around the municipality building to protect it from hundreds of angry Serbs gathering nearby.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“This morning, the NATO-led KFOR [Kosovo Force] mission has increased its presence in four municipalities of northern Kosovo following the latest developments in the area,” a KFOR statement said.
“In line with its mandate, KFOR is ready to take all necessary actions to ensure a safe environment in a neutral and impartial manner,” it said, adding that KFOR’s commander was in close contact with the security organs of Kosovo and Serbia.
KFOR troops also acted to protect the town halls in Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica from possible threats.
Serbs, who form a majority in Kosovo’s north, have never accepted its 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia and still see Belgrade as their capital more than two decades after the Kosovo Albanian uprising against repressive Serbian rule.
Serbia has also refused to recognize an independent Kosovo.
Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90 percent of the population in Kosovo as a whole, but northern Serbs demand the implementation of a decade-old EU-brokered deal for the creation of an association of autonomous municipalities in their area.
Serbs refused to take part in last month’s local elections and ethnic Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in four Serb-majority municipalities with a 3.5 percent turnout.
Serbs have called on the Kosovo government to remove ethnic Albanian mayors from town halls and allow local administrations financed by Belgrade return to their duties.
On Friday, three out of four mayors were escorted into their offices by Kosovo police, who were pelted with rocks and responded with tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters.
The US and its allies, which have strongly backed Kosovo’s independence, on Friday rebuked Pristina for escalating tensions with Serbia, saying the use of force to install mayors in majority Serb areas undercut efforts to normalize relations.
On Sunday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on the Kosovo government to tone down tensions with Serbia.
“Pristina must de-escalate & not take unilateral, destabilizing steps,” Stoltenberg said on Twitter.
After a phone call with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti wrote on Twitter: “Emphasized that elected mayors will provide services to all citizens.”
However, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic told RTS state television it was “not possible to have mayors who have not been elected by Serbs in Serb-majority municipalities.”
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