KFOR prepared 100 vehicles to break through
The KFOR is determined to remove barricades. The Serbs are determined to protect barricades. This is the shortest description of position of the armed forces and people in Kosovo north.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, October 21, 2011
Yesterday the KFOR and the EULEX tried with joint forces to break through the barricade at Jagnjenica (Zubin Potok). That road leads to Brnjak checkpoint and it would also provide control over the road leading to Kosovska Mitrovica. Still at the end of the day each of the sides kept its ‘position, with shifts of tired soldiers and citizens.
The KFOR chose the barricade at Jagnjenica to start with. This barricade is not reinforced with concrete and requires heavy mechanization only. The action at Jagnjenica began at four in the morning and immediately after the first attempt by the international forces to break through, about 600 citizens gathered at the barricade.
The situation reached climax at six in the morning and the KFOR tried once again later to disperse the citizens using tear gas at about 10.30. However, only one truck was removed. Until closure of this issue this barricade was not destroyed nor was any other one.
During the day the KFOR and the EULEX announced to be satisfied with the action, to have gained control over part of the road and to have enlarged the zone around Brnjak. However, that is not exactly the situation in the field, but this does not mean that international forces shall not carry out what they said yesterday. The zone around Brnjak has been enlarged for several meters only since about fifteen Serbs withdrew from a huge barricade made of earth and joined other citizens at Jagnjenica.
During the day the KFOR convoy was at about 300 meters away from the main barricade in the village of Zupce.
‘We do not want to win. We only hope that the KFOR shall realize that the Serbs from the barricades are not their enemies but people who are only defending what belongs to them. We do not want conflicts and we shall not cause them. This is a peaceful protest for our survival', a local man from Zubin Potok on duty at the Jagnjenica barricade since midnight.
There were conflicts at the barricades, too and more than 20 people from the barricade at Jagnjenica sought medical help due to miner injuries caused by tear gas.
