Serbs turn to violence in Kosovo protests

Thousands of Serbs destroyed two border checkpoints in Kosovo today during protests over the country’s newly-declared independence.

Others chanting “Kosovo is Serbia” marched to a bridge dividing them from ethnic Albanians.

Smoke billowed from the two border crossings separating Kosovo from Serbia and flames engulfed several UN vehicles as the protesters showed they were willing to use violence to try to hold on to Kosovo.

Their actions could pave the way for Serbian militants to return to fight in Kosovo which Serb nationalists consider the cradle of their state and religion.

Kosovo has not been under Belgrade’s control since 1999, when Nato launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A UN mission since has governed Kosovo, with more than 16,000 Nato troops and a multi-ethnic police force policing the province.

The divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica in Kosovo’s north has been tense since the ethnic Albanian leadership in Pristina unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on Sunday – widely expected after internationally mediated talks on the province’s future fell apart last year.

Overnight, three loud explosions shook the town, with one damaging several cars near a UN building. Two hand grenades hit deserted homes that belonged to ethnic Albanians who fled this Serb stronghold after the 1999 war. A UN vehicle also was torched overnight in a nearby village.

No injuries were reported, and Kosovo Serb authorities said they were investigating the bombings.

At the checkpoints in Jarnije and Banja, about 20 miles north, protesters used plastic explosives and bulldozers.

They tipped over metal sheds that housed Kosovo’s customs service and sent them sliding down a hill and into a river. They vandalised and set fire to passport control booths.

“It was very dangerous and the police had to withdraw and call for help from Nato peacekeepers,” said a spokesman for Kosovo’s police force.

Nato peacekeepers did not intervene but stepped up patrols on the road leading to Serbia.

Mitrovica’s Serb authorities said they intervened at the border because ethnic Albanians were attempting to set up border crossings on the boundary with Serbia. The Serbs called on Belgrade to “urgently take steps” to protect Serbia’s territorial integrity and protect its citizens.

About 2,000 young Kosovo Serbs marched to a bridge that spans the Ibar River dividing the town between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, wrecking a Nato car in central Mitrovica on the way.

“We cannot allow the institutions of a non-existent state to be imposed on us and to pay taxes to some independent Kosovo,” said Slavisa Ristic, head of the local Serb municipality. “That is impossible.”

International recognition of Kosovo’s declaration of independence led by Britain, the US and others, appeared to feed Serbs’ anger over a unilateral move the government in Belgrade rejected as illegal.

Russia, China and some EU members also strongly oppose letting Kosovo break away from Serbia over Serbia’s objections.

In Vienna Serbia’s foreign minister urged members of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation to condemn Kosovo’s “illegal” declaration.

“History will judge those who have chosen to trample the bedrock of the international system and on the principles upon which security and cooperation in Europe have been established,” Vuk Jeremic said.