NATO-led soldiers on Wednesday increased security around a town hall in northern Kosovo, where hundreds of ethnic Serbs gathered again after clashes earlier this week left more than 80 people injured.
Following the violence on Monday in the town of Zvecan, NATO has decided to send hundreds of additional personnel to boost the international peacekeeping mission (KFOR) in Kosovo.
Hundreds of ethnic Serbs rallied outside Zvecan’s town hall on Wednesday for a third consecutive day and held aloft a huge Serbian flag that stretched over 200 meters (660 feet) from the municipal building to the town centre.
KFOR soldiers encircled the town hall, additionally securing the building with a metal fence and barbed wire.
Despite a turnout of fewer than 3.5 percent, Kosovo’s ethnic Serb minority boycotted local elections in the north last month, allowing ethnic Albanians to assume control of local councils.
Many Serbs are calling for the evacuation of Kosovo’s special police forces, as well as the ethnic Albanian mayors they believe are not their legitimate representatives.
The demonstrators decorated the fence erected by KFOR soldiers with Serbian flags.
NATO-led peacekeepers used shields and batons in a bid to disperse the crowd but were met by a hail of rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails.
A total of 30 peacekeepers, 11 Italians and 19 Hungarians — were wounded in Monday’s clashes, according to KFOR.
Fifty-two protesters were also injured, three of them “seriously”, while five Serbs were arrested for taking part in the clashes.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned attacks on the alliance’s forces in Kosovo, saying they were “unacceptable and must stop”.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticised ally Kosovo, blaming Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government for “sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions” by installing ethnic Albanian mayors.
The United States also suspended Kosovo from an ongoing military exercise.
Kosovo declared independence from Belgrade after US-led NATO military intervention in 1999 effectively ended a bitter war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
Belgrade, along with its crucial partners China and Russia, continues to reject the proposal, denying Pristina a seat at the United Nations.
Kosovo is mostly populated by ethnic Albanians, although the Serbs, who make up around 6% of the population, have remained overwhelmingly loyal to Belgrade, particularly in the north where they constitute the majority.
