KFOR takes over barricade in northern Kosovo
KFOR used tear gas against the local Serbs who had set up the original road block near the administrative line checkpoint.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Leposavic Mayor Branko Ninic has called for restraint and on the citizens to fight for their legitimate rights with peaceful means only and on KFOR not to use force.
He believes that KFOR troops used the tear gas to disperse the citizens who gathered at the Jarinje checkpoint without any reason.
The tear gas was used to disperse the Serbs who were standing about 30 meters from the barbed wire that the soldiers had set up near Jarinje. KFOR took over control of the barricade about two hours earlier.
During the operation U.S. KFOR troops detained two Serbs but they were released about an hour an a half later.
KFOR also blocked two alternative roads near the Jarinje crossing and the Ibar River leading to Leposavic and Raska.
The northern Kosovo Serbs unloaded several truckloads of gravel for a new barricade after KFOR troops had used tear gas.
The group of Serbs then moved several hundred meters down the road and ambulance arrived to help those who needed medical attention due to tear gas inhalation.
"KFOR betrayed Serbs' trust"
Kosovska Mitrovica District Head Radenko Nedeljkovic said on Wednesday morning that KFOR had betrayed northern Serbs' trust by taking over the barricade at the Jarinje administrative crossing.
He told that KFOR had also betrayed the good will showed by the Serbs who allowed normal supplies and rotation of soldiers at the administrative crossing and the base in the town.
"It is not KFOR's mandate to block the alternative roads and hermetically seal off this part of the province. A lesson needs to be learned from this. Regardless of how many soldiers KFOR has, a solution cannot be imposed by force," Nedeljkovic pointed out.
He added that the policy and strategy needed to be changed "when it comes to the international community and they need to accept the facts and reality in the field, meaning that the Serbs from northern Kosovo do not want so-called Kosovo institutions".
