The Serbs living in Kosovo, who have been blocking the roads for more than two weeks, will start removing the barricades on the morning of Thursday, the 29th of December, writes Reuters.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with Serbs living in northern Kosovo and announced that the removal of barricades will begin on the 29th of December, but it will take some time. The United States and the European Union are said to have promised that no Serbs who participated in building the barricades would be punished.
The removal of the barricades is expected to ease tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.
The UN, NATO, and the European Union have called for restraint in northern Kosovo. NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo has said it supports dialogue that should ease tensions caused by Serb barricades on major roads and violent clashes with police. Serbia, on the other hand, has set its army at the highest level of readiness.
At the request of the prosecutor’s office, the former Serbian policeman whose arrest sparked the violent clashes has been released from custody and is now under house arrest. He is one of many Serbs who left the police after Pristina announced its decision to ban Serbian car registration plates issued nearly 30 years ago.
The decision to release the detainee has angered many, including Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu. Haxhiu stated that she did not understand how a person accused of such serious crimes could be released.
Kurti declared:
«I am curious – who is the prosecutor who requested this, and which pre-trial investigation judge approved it.»
Two border checkpoints on the Kosovo-Serbia border were closed already on the 10th of December, while the largest one located in Merdare was closed on the 28th of December. Thus, those Kosovo residents who work elsewhere and come for the holidays cannot return home.
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