BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2023) Thousands of ethnic Serbs have once again gathered near local government buildings in the towns of Zvecan and Leposaviq in northern Kosovo to hold protests over the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors, the Kosovo Online news portal reported on Wednesday.
Several thousands came to the municipality building in Zvecan on Wednesday morning, where violent clashes between protesters and NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers took place on Monday. KFOR installed several lines of barbed wire in front of the building. Special units of the Kosovar police with armored vehicles are deployed behind them, according to the report.
The Serbs came to the demonstration and unfolded an 820-foot flag of Serbia, the news outlet reported. Srdan Milosavljevic, a former head of the Zvecan municipality, once again urged the Serbs to hold the rally peacefully.
The demonstrators repeated their previous demands. They demand to withdraw the Kosovo police from the north of the Kosovo and Metohija province, allow Serbian officials inside the municipality building and release the two Serbs detained on Monday.
In Leposaviq, numerous Serbs also came to protests. KFOR troops and the Kosovar police took similar precautionary measures there, according to the report.
On Monday, hundreds of ethnic Serbs came to local government buildings in the Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo demanding the removal of ethnic Albanian mayors who took office following elections boycotted by the Serbs. Police and the KFOR mission's troops were deployed to the sites of protests. At least 52 Serbs and 25 members of KFOR troops were injured during the clashes that erupted.
