BELGRADE, December 25. /TASS/. The authorities of the non-recognized republic of Kosovo have banned Patriarch of Serbia Porfirije from visiting Kosovo and Metohija on Christmas, the press service of the Serbian Orthodox Church said on Sunday.

"Patriarch of Serbia Porfirije was astonished to hear that the Pristina authorities have banned him from visiting the Pec Patriarchate, the centuries-old see of the Serb Orthodox Church, on the eve of the holy Christmas holiday. Patriarch of Serbia Porfirije, who is the father superior of the Pec Monastery, doesn’t drop its intention to serve a divine liturgy in the Pec Patriarchate and expects this discriminatory decision be revoked," it said.

The Patriarch also called on Pristina to stop violating human rights and the freedoms of the Orthodox Serbs living in Kosovo, on the land of their ancestors for at least 1,500 years.

The situation in Kosovo was aggravated dramatically on December 6, when the Kosovo police along with EULEX (European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) patrols began to seize premises housing electoral commissions in northern Kosovo and Metohija. Local Serbs repelled the Kosovars, who fled across the Ibar River. Two days later, on December 8, around 350 Kosovo policemen in armored cars intruded into the Serb-inhabited northern Kosovo and blocked the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. On December 10, the Kosovo police detained Dejan Pantic, a former Serbian policeman, on dubious charges. In response, the Serb population erected barricades along a highway in several locations and took to the streets in protest.