PRISTINA (Reuters) – Shots were fired near a NATO patrol within the northern a part of Kosovo where local Serbs have arrange roadblocks to bar police from Pristina from patrolling the realm marred by ethnic tensions in recent months, NATO said on Sunday.
Nobody was injured and the automotive was undamaged when the shots were heard in the realm of Zubin Potok, NATO’s mission, KFOR, said in a press release. KFOR didn’t say where the shots got here from. Some 3,760 NATO troops maintain the delicate peace.
Local Serbs, a population of around 50,000 in Kosovo’s north, arrange barricades after police on Dec. 10 arrested a former Serb police officer on charges of assaulting serving cops during a previous protest.
The local Serbs, who don’t recognise the state of Kosovo and are backed by Belgrade, are demanding the discharge of the arrested officer and other demands before they’ll remove the barricades.
Kosovo’s government has asked KFOR, which maintains a neutral role, to remove the barricades.
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Ethnic Serb mayors in northern municipalities, together with local judges and a few 600 cops, resigned last month in protest over a Kosovo government decision to switch Serbian-issued automotive license plates with ones issued by Pristina.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina; Additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade; Editing by Howard Goller)
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