KFOR stops Serb protest convoy
U.S. KFOR forces on Thursday stopped near the Jarinje checkpoint a convoy of several dozen vehicles driven by Serbs from northern Kosovo who were protesting the implementation of the agreement on integrated management of administrative crossings.
(KosovoCompromiseStuff) Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Serbs planned to drive from northern Kosovska Mitrovica to Jarinje in protest again the plan to implement the integrated crossings management agreement reached by Belgrade and Pristina at this checkpoint.
KFOR stretched barbed wire across a bridge in the vicinity of the checkpoint and later parked vehicles across both lanes of the road from Kosovska Mitrovica to Raska.
After waiting for one hour, the convoy headed back. All the while KFOR was letting through vehicles which were not part of the convoy, so there were no major traffic delays on the route from central Serbia to Kosovo via Jarinje.
Momir Kasalovic, the deputy mayor of Kosovska Mitrovica, told reporters that the aim of the peaceful protest drive was to show the Serbs were "not reconciled to the fact someone was about to institute a border between them and central Serbia."
The protest was organized by the Serbo-Slavic Solidarity Association and the People's Movement Homeland, but the convoy did not include any of the four northern Kosovo mayors.
Pilot projects under the integrated management agreement will be conducted at the Jarinje and Merdare checkpoints, and Serbia will insist that EULEX have an executive role there i.e. that its officers carry out the checks.
KFOR stretched barbed wire across a bridge in the vicinity of the checkpoint and later parked vehicles across both lanes of the road from Kosovska Mitrovica to Raska.
After waiting for one hour, the convoy headed back. All the while KFOR was letting through vehicles which were not part of the convoy, so there were no major traffic delays on the route from central Serbia to Kosovo via Jarinje.
Momir Kasalovic, the deputy mayor of Kosovska Mitrovica, told reporters that the aim of the peaceful protest drive was to show the Serbs were "not reconciled to the fact someone was about to institute a border between them and central Serbia."
The protest was organized by the Serbo-Slavic Solidarity Association and the People's Movement Homeland, but the convoy did not include any of the four northern Kosovo mayors.
Pilot projects under the integrated management agreement will be conducted at the Jarinje and Merdare checkpoints, and Serbia will insist that EULEX have an executive role there i.e. that its officers carry out the checks.
