Kosovo police exchange fire with local Serbs blocking roads - The Straits Times

MITROVICA, Kosovo - Kosovo Serbs and country’s police exchanged gunfire on Saturday after a flareup of tensions in the volatile northern part of the country.

Earlier in the day, Serbs from Kosovo’s north blocked main roads in the region to protest against the arrest of a former member of the Kosovo police who quit his post last month along with other ethnic Serbs.

With a crisis mounting in the majority Serb north, Kosovo’s president Vjosa Osmani on Saturday announced that local elections in that area would be delayed until April 23. Elections had been scheduled for Dec 18 but Serbs said they would boycott the polls.

Police said the blockade halted traffic and they were forced to close two border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia. Later, they said they came under fire in several locations close to a lake bordering Serbia. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

“Police units, in self-defence, were forced to respond with firearms to the criminals who were repulsed and run in unknown directions,” police said in a statement.

Gunshots were also heard in other locations in the northern part of the country.

Police in Pristina said former policeman Dejan Pantic was arrested for allegedly attacking election commission offices, police officers and election officials on Tuesday.

Serb mayors in northern Kosovo municipalities, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, resigned last month in protest over a government decision to replace Belgrade-issued car licence plates with ones issued by Pristina.

“Serbia has instructed its illegal structures to set up barricades in the north Kosovo. Belgrade bears the full responsibility for any escalation,” Blerim Vela, Kosovo’s presidential chief of staff said on Twitter.

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