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Serbia’s president calls on Kosovo Serbs to dismantle barricades

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić has called the ethnic Serbs in Kosovo to quit the protest against the Kosovar government. Vučić assured Kosovo’s Serbs that they would not be prosecuted for their resistance, the head of the Serbian Government Office Petar Petković said during a press conference.

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“We have received guarantees from the United States and European Union that none of the Serbs in Kosovo who participated in protests and who took part in barricades will be prosecuted or arrested,” Mr Petković said.


Kosovo is a former, historical province of Serbia that declared independence in 2008. But since that time Serbia and the ethnic Serb population living in the north of Kosovo refuse to recognise the new country’s independence. One of the manifestations of such a stance is that they use licence plates issued in Serbia. The United States and European Union are moderating peace talks to reduce the tensions between the Balkan neighbours.


“We also received guarantees that Kosovo Security Forces will not come to Serb majority north of Kosovo without consent of KFOR commander and representatives of local population,” Mr Petković said, reminding about the presence of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping troops stationing in the region.


The tension was increasing since last month when a major group of ethnic Serbs in the north resigned from their jobs in state institutions, including the police and judiciary after the Pristina government made a decision about replacing the Serbian license plates with Kosovar ones and introduced financial penalties for using the old ones.


The Serb population responded by blocking the roads with trucks, following the arrest of an ethnic-Serb police officer Dejan Pantić who took part in the previous protests. The protesters demanded to free Pantić as their priority aim in the blockade.


Mr Petković informed the media that President Vučić called the Serbs to dismantle the barricades.


President Vučić will meet the Kosovo Serb delegation near the Kosovo border to assure the barricades will be removed, Petković stated.

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