Dozens of citizens injured in clashes with KFOR
The night at the barricade near the village of Jagnjenica in northern Kosovo went peacefully after a day of clashes and high tension.
(KosovoCompromise) Tuesday, November 29, 2011
A large number of local citizens gathered to spend the night at the barricade.
Meanwhile, KFOR soldiers formed a cordon and stood in full combat gear on the place where they on Monday morning used force to remove the barricade held for four months by Serbs, on the road toward an ethnic Albanian village.
The soldiers also put up barbed wire between them and the citizens. As the night fell on Monday, the Serbs gathered there set on fire a truck loaded with logs that they previously used as a barricade, while the NATO troops torched two tents that the citizens used as shelter while they manned the road block.
There were clashes at the site during the whole day yesterday. Soldiers armed to the teeth responded to every move made by the citizens by firing tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, stun grenades and water canons. The citizens responded by throwing stones.
There were injuries on both sides, but none life-threatening.
The mayor of nearby Zubin Potok, Slaviša Ristic, on several occasions spoke to KFOR representatives, asking them to withdraw to their initial positions, and free up the only road that Serbs have been using since 1999 to travel between Zvečan and Zubin Potok.
KFOR demanded that the citizens should withdraw so they could set up a checkpoint at the location where the barricade stood. There was no agreement and both sides remained entrenched in their positions.
They spent the night under these circumstances, and that is how the day started, bringing with it many uncertainties. There is yet no solution in sight for the crisis that broke out after the violent removal of the barricade on Monday morning.
KFOR said that their operation was to ensure the freedom of movement, which local Serbs said the troops already enjoyed. The citizens believe the operation was aimed at causing unrest, that could then be blamed on the Serbs.
KFOR in the meantime issued a warning that they would not remove themselves from the road, that they did not have full freedom of movement, and that they would ensure it "by all available means".
