PanARMENIAN.Net - The Kosovo government postponed implementation of a decision that would oblige Serbs in the north of the country to apply for car license plates issued by Pristina institutions after tensions rose between police and local communities, The Guardian reports.
Late on Sunday, July 31, protesters parked trucks filled with gravel and other heavy machinery on roads leading to two border crossings, Jarinje and Bernjak, in a territory where Serbs form a majority. Kosovo police said they had to close the border crossings.
“The overall security situation in the Northern municipalities of Kosovo is tense,” Nato-led mission to Kosovo KFOR said in a statement. The statement said KFOR was “monitoring closely” and “prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardised”.
In Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova blamed the heightened tension on what she called “groundless discriminatory rules” imposed by Kosovo authorities
Fourteen years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, 50,000 Serbs living in the north use license plates and documents issued by Serbian authorities, refusing to recognise institutions under the capital, Pristina. Kosovo has been recognised as an independent state by more than 100 countries but not by Serbia or Russia.
The government of prime minister Albin Kurti had said it would give Serbs a transitional period of 60 days to get Kosovo license plates, one year after giving up trying to impose them due to similar protests.
The government also decided that as of 1 August, all citizens from ...
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