Serbs block road leading to administrative checkpoint

LEPOSAVIC About 100 local Serbs from Leposavic and Lesak in northern Kosovo on Thursday blocked the road leading from Jarinje to Rudnica. Jarinje is one of the two checkpoints located on the administrative line between Kosovo and central Serbia. Serbs block road leading to administrative checkpoint The citizens decided to take action in protest of freight vehicles transporting commercial goods on that road. They believe it is yet another attempt to install Kosovo Albanian institutions at the crossings and "integrate" that part of the province into the "Kosovo system". The road block has been placed in the buffer zone, on the line between central Serbia and Kosovo. The protest comes a year after a major flare up of tensions and violence in the northern, majority-Serb part of Kosovo. Leposavic Mayor Dragisa Vasic joined the citizens on Thursday and told Beta news agency that they were peacefully expressing their rejection of the intentions of the Pristina government to "complete their independence by integrating northern Kosovo and Metohija". "What is happening in the north is a continuation of last year's protests launched by Serbs," he stated, and added that the Serbs there showed democratic resistance toward the Pristina authorities and a part of the international community who were attempting to use force to install Kosovo customs and border police at the checkpoints. The citizens are today letting passenger cars through, but are blocking freight vehicles. They used tree trunks to block the road. (Beta, file) Beta

Serbs block road leading to administrative checkpoint

The citizens decided to take action in protest of freight vehicles transporting commercial goods on that road.

They believe it is yet another attempt to install Kosovo Albanian institutions at the crossings and "integrate" that part of the province into the "Kosovo system".

The road block has been placed in the buffer zone, on the line between central Serbia and Kosovo.

The protest comes a year after a major flare up of tensions and violence in the northern, majority-Serb part of Kosovo.

Leposavić Mayor Dragiša Vasić joined the citizens on Thursday and told Beta news agency that they were peacefully expressing their rejection of the intentions of the Priština government to "complete their independence by integrating northern Kosovo and Metohija".

"What is happening in the north is a continuation of last year's protests launched by Serbs," he stated, and added that the Serbs there showed democratic resistance toward the Priština authorities and a part of the international community who were attempting to use force to install Kosovo customs and border police at the checkpoints.

The citizens are today letting passenger cars through, but are blocking freight vehicles. They used tree trunks to block the road.