Border tension: Kosovo blockade disrupts Serbia road connections
Roads near two border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo, near the villages of Merdare and Jarinje, have been blocked, local media reported. The blockade is in response to the closure by authorities in Pristina of five Serbian institutions operating in Kosovo.
The village of Merdare is located in southeastern Serbia, while Jarinje is on the Kosovan side, in the north of the country. The organisers of the blockades announced their expansion to another road connecting Serbia with Kosovo and a crossing connecting Kosovo with Montenegro.
Protesting Serbs noted that they allow passage for everyone who has Serbian documents. The exception is lorries, which are not allowed to pass regardless of whether they have Serbian or Kosovan plates. Serbian police officers are present at the blockades, observed the Balkan editor of Radio Free Europe.
"Cars with Serbian number plates are allowed through without issue. The organisers of the blockades stop cars with Kosovan plates and check if the travellers have Serbian documents," the editor reported.
Reaction to the decision of the Kosovo authorities
The blockades are a reaction to Kosovo authorities' decision to close five Serbian institutions in the north of the country, which is mostly inhabited by Serbs. According to Pristina, the institutions "violated the constitutionality and rights of the Republic of Kosovo."
Protesters are demanding the "liberation of municipalities in northern Kosovo," the reinstatement of the dinar (at the beginning of the year, the euro became Kosovo's sole official currency - editor's note), and the deployment of NATO peacekeeping forces and UN missions in predominantly Serbian areas.
"We will stay here until the problem of northern Kosovo is solved," the organisers announced.
Ineffective negotiations
Serbia lost control over Kosovo after the NATO military campaign in 1999. It refuses to recognise the independence of its former province, which was declared in 2008. Kosovo is still home to a Serbian minority, some concentrated in the northern areas near the Serbian border.
The European Union organises meetings between the two countries' leaders, but they have not made visible progress in normalising relations. At the end of June, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Kurti travelled to Brussels. Still, their direct meeting did not occur after the Kosovan leader refused to participate.
