BELGRADE, December 30. /TASS/. All barricades erected by the Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija have been removed, the Tanjug news agency reported on Friday.
According to the news agency, barricades near Zvecan, Ibarska Slatina, and Leposavic in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica and in Zubin Potok have been dismantled. In spite of this, the police of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo have not resumed traffic via the Jarinje and Brnjak checkpoints.
Earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after a meeting with Kosovo’s representatives in the city of Raska on the night of December 29 that the removal of barricades would begin on December 29 and would take from 24 to 48 hours to take down. As of now, the efforts to remove the barricades are over.
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.
On December 26, Kosovo’s armed forces were put on high alert. In response, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Milos Vucevic and Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said that President Vucic had ordered that the country’s armed forces and interior troops be put on alert too. The situation was stabilized on December 28.