Blocks removed from northern Kosovo road

The gravel was removed from several sites on the highway at the exit from Kosovska Mitrovica on the way to Zvecan and workers repairing the damaged section of the road which had slowed down traffic. The decision on removal of obstacles from the road was adopted by the Kosovska Mitrovica municipal representatives, Mayor Dragisa Vlaskovic told Tanjug and underscored that the obstacles have become dysfunctional and caused jeopardy for the participants in the traffic. Two more blocks were put up in Kosovska Mitrovica, and the biggest one among them is the concrete block set up on the northern side of the bridge on the Ibar River. KFOR Commander Folker Halbauer stated several days ago that KFOR will not remove the block because it is a political symbol and it needs to be resolved as such. The Ibar River separates the southern part of the city populated by Kosovo Albanians alone from northern Mitrovica which is home to mainly Serb population. The block on the road leading to the eastern part of the Ibar River and multiethnic village of Bosnjacka Mahala in northern Kosovska Mitrovica was not removed either. The traffic on the motorway from Pristina in Rudare, northern Kosovo, is also slowed down due to partial obstacles. Serbs in northern Kosovo put up road blocks in July 2011 when special units of the Kosovo police ROSU tried to take control over two crossings in northern Kosovo, Brnjak and Jarinje, on the administrative line with central Serbia.