The Bundeswehr said the soldier with the ear injury had been treated on the
spot.
Oliver Ivanovic, Serbia’s state secretary for Kosovo, told Tanjug news agency
three Kosovo Serbs were hurt when KFOR troops moved in to disperse several
hundred people protesting at the barricade’s removal.
The clash over the Rudare roadblock is the latest in a series in the
flashpoint area of northern Kosovo since last year.
In Belgrade President Tomislav Nikolic, who was sworn in only Thursday, called
the National Security Council to discuss the situation.
The council, presided by the president, is comprised of the prime minister,
the ministers of defense, justice and the interior, the army leadership and
the heads of the intelligence services.
Serbian state television RTS reported that the council concluded that the
security of (Serb) citizens in Kosovo is “under serious threat” and called
on the international institutions in the territory to “stop Pristina’s …
attempts to destabilize and sow fear among the Serb population”.
“We cannot sit idly by, we cannot stay silent in the face of what is happening
in Kosovo,” Mr Nikolic told RTS.
Serb officials said about 150 KFOR soldiers were deployed in the area where
local Serbs had set up the roadblock to prevent ethnic Albanian Kosovo
police and customs officials from entering the Serb-populated area.
The barricade in Rudare was on the road leading to the Jarinje border crossing
between Serbia and its breakaway southern province, which is manned by KFOR.
In the early evening Friday the Serb protesters had dispersed and the
situation at Rudare was calm, with all roadblocks removed by KFOR.
Kosovo’s minority Serbs, who do not recognise its declaration of independence
in 2008, began setting up road blocks to prevent Pristina’s ethnic Albanian
police and customs officials from manning the northern border posts.
Clashes ensued and in November some 50 KFOR soldiers were hurt as they moved
to dismantle barricades.
Most were removed in February as EU-sponsored dialogue between Belgrade and
Pristina was revived.
Out of a population of about two million, there are some 120,000 ethnic Serbs
in Kosovo, with 40,000 in the north on the border with Serbia and the rest
in enclaves dotted around the territory.
Kosovo has been recognised as an independent state by more than 80 countries,
including the United States and most EU members.
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