Kosovo Serbs stage protest at Jarinje

According to Tanjug's correspondent, KFOR parked several armored vehicles on the road, set up the checkpoint and it now controls the traffic.

Vehicles from both directions are allowed to pass, and the control at the very crossing of Jarinje is performed by EULEX staff. There are also five or six vehicles of the Serbian Interior Ministry in the vicinity.

This morning, several hundred Kosovo Serbs, including the representatives of the local self-government from northern Kosovo-Metohija, gathered at the site where the construction of the integrated crossing Jarinje has begun.

The citizens are protesting against the intent to start with the implementation of the the agreement on integrated crossings management at Jarinje as of December 10.

They pointed out that they do not want a border between central Serbia and Kosovo to be established.

The Serbs gathered at the site where works on the future integrated administrative crossing are carried out and parked their vehicles with license plates of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Traffic between Raska and Leposavic, across Jarinje, is hampered, but not blocked.

A KFOR helicopter is occasionally seen flying over the area around Jarinje.

Photo Tanjug, BOKI
Ristic: KiM Serbs want to remain Serbian citizens

Serbs in Kosovo want to remain citizens of Serbia, President of the Zubin Potok Municipality Slavisa Ristic said Tuesday, adding that they would remain at Jarinje until they get a guarantee that the creation of the border between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia would be given up on.

The intention to set up an integrated border or crossing at Jarinje actually means separating Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo from Serbia, Ristic said.
"We cannot allow this to happen as our fates cannot be linked to an independent Kosovo and Greater Albania. We see not our perspective there. We want to remain citizens of Serbia," Ristic told.

He said that the Serbian government had failed to deliver to the Kosovo Serbs any written guarantees that they would not have to pay customs duties to the administration in Pristina or that they would be able to use their Serbian personal documents and registration plates.
"We will not allow anybody to be throwing dust in our eyes and trying to separate us while at the same time saying that this is not a border at all," Ristic said.

Ristic called on the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) and Patriarch Irinej for help, recalled the fact that the SPC had recently said that there should be no borders with Kosovo.