Northern Kosovo Serbs spend night in Jarinje
The works on the facility to serve as a jointly managed crossing checkpoint at Jarinje in northern Kosovo have still not been continued as the Serbs who oppose its construction carried on with their protest at the site Wednesday.
(KosovoCompromiseStuff) Wednesday, December 05, 2012
The Serbs spent the night there continuing their protest against what they fear will be an actual border between Kosovo and central Serbia.
Gathering on a point of the road between Raska and Leposavic on Monday, they were not deterred from spending the night there even in the conditions of a cold rain mixed with sleet.
They gathered around campfires they built or stayed in their cars and tents, according to a Tanjug reporter from the scene.
The local protesters were briefly joined by students from Leposavic and Kosovska Mitrovica who were on their way back home from the protest staged in Belgrade over the recent acquittals of war crime defendants in The Hague late Tuesday.
The traffic over the crossing, controlled by EULEX, was not obstructed and all those who traveling from the direction of Raska in central Serbia to the north of the province and vice versa could pass without much delay.
Soldiers from U.S. KFOR troops have erected a checkpoint on the Kosovo side of the crossing, letting the road be used alternatively by traffic approaching from opposite directions and searching some vehicles for illegal weapons.
The site where the Kosovo Serbs gathered is located in Serbia proper and increased police presence is noticeable.
Not a single incident has been reported and representatives of local governments in northern Kosovo urged residents to stay in Jarinje and help prevent the setting up of the facility.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said after the third round of the high-level talks between Belgrade and Pristina, which took more than three hours to complete in Brussels late Tuesday, that the regime of transition over the administrative line would not change, assuring the Kosovo Serbs that the crossings would not become new borders and urging them to trust their government.
The construction of the facility was suspended on Tuesday after starting last week.
Gathering on a point of the road between Raska and Leposavic on Monday, they were not deterred from spending the night there even in the conditions of a cold rain mixed with sleet.
They gathered around campfires they built or stayed in their cars and tents, according to a Tanjug reporter from the scene.
The local protesters were briefly joined by students from Leposavic and Kosovska Mitrovica who were on their way back home from the protest staged in Belgrade over the recent acquittals of war crime defendants in The Hague late Tuesday.
The traffic over the crossing, controlled by EULEX, was not obstructed and all those who traveling from the direction of Raska in central Serbia to the north of the province and vice versa could pass without much delay.
Soldiers from U.S. KFOR troops have erected a checkpoint on the Kosovo side of the crossing, letting the road be used alternatively by traffic approaching from opposite directions and searching some vehicles for illegal weapons.
The site where the Kosovo Serbs gathered is located in Serbia proper and increased police presence is noticeable.
Not a single incident has been reported and representatives of local governments in northern Kosovo urged residents to stay in Jarinje and help prevent the setting up of the facility.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said after the third round of the high-level talks between Belgrade and Pristina, which took more than three hours to complete in Brussels late Tuesday, that the regime of transition over the administrative line would not change, assuring the Kosovo Serbs that the crossings would not become new borders and urging them to trust their government.
The construction of the facility was suspended on Tuesday after starting last week.
