A group of Serbs has blocked a road in the town of Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, since Tuesday morning, as part of the escalation of tensions that has been taking place in the Balkan territory for weeks.
According to the Kosovo Online portal, the main demands of the Serbs are the release of several detainees by Pristina, as well as the withdrawal of special forces from the north of the former Serbian region.
This blockade comes a day after the Atlantic Alliance Mission in Kosovo (KFOR) announced the launching of an investigation into a shooting without injuries in the town of Zubin Potok.
Likewise, Kosovo prohibited Patriarch Porfiri from entering its territory, a gesture intensely criticized from Belgrade and by the clergyman himself, who has denounced that the Kosovar authorities prevented him from entering what he considered his «home».
Against this backdrop, Belgrade announced on Monday night that the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, had ordered the country’s army to be at «the highest level of combat readiness».
Hours earlier, the Serbian leader had already stated that his government would take «measures to protect» Serbs after combat readiness was increased in Pristina.
In mid-December Serbia asked NATO to deploy 1,000 Serbian security personnel in Kosovo, an unprecedented request, based on a United Nations resolution, and on which Vucic himself said he did not foresee the approval of the Atlantic Alliance.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
