Tensions were high in northern Kosovo on Sunday after unidentified gunmen exchanged fire with police and threw a stun grenade at EU security forces overnight. Dozens of Serbs, protesting against the arrest of a former policeman, gathered again in the morning on roadblocks built the day before and which paralyze traffic at two border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia.
Several hours after the roadblocks were put in place, police said they suffered three successive attacks with firearms on Saturday evening on one of the roads leading to the border. “The police units, in self-defense, were forced to respond with their weapons to the criminal persons and groups, who were repelled and left in an unknown direction,” according to a police statement.
EU police also targeted
European Union police deployed in the region as part of the EULEX mission said he was also targeted by a stun grenade, which caused no injuries in his ranks. “This attack, like those against members of the Kosovo police, is unacceptable,” EULEX added in a statement.
Tensions have risen ahead of local elections in Serb-majority municipalities originally scheduled for December 18, which the main Serbian party wants to boycott.
Explosions and gunshots were heard earlier in the week as local authorities tried to prepare for the vote. A policeman from the Albanian community, part of the forces deployed in the region, was injured.
A postponement of the elections already recorded
Shortly after the appearance of roadblocks the president of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani decided to postpone the elections to April 23rd. The embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and the United States, as well as the representation of the EU, welcomed this postponement, seeing it as a “constructive decision” to “advance the efforts to achieve a more secure situation in the north”.
Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade does not recognize it and encourages the Serb majority in northern Kosovo to challenge the authority in Pristina. Serbs represent approximately 120,000 people, out of a total Kosovo population of some 1.8 million people, overwhelmingly of Albanian origin
Pristina and Belgrade swapped charges after the latest series of incidents. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he would ask NATO forces to allow the deployment of Serbian police and military in Kosovo, while acknowledging that there was “no chance of this request being approved”. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti for his part accused Serbia of “threatening Kosovo with aggression”.