This step back comes after the postponement of measures deemed vexatious by the Serbian minority.
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The Serb minority in Kosovo dismantled the barricades erected in the north of the territory on Monday, August 1, according to an AFP correspondent. The decision comes a few hours after the postponement by Pristina of measures deemed vexatious by this minority, the latest bout of tension to date in the former Serbian province.
Protesters removed trucks and other heavy vehicles that had been blocking access to a border crossing with Serbia since Sunday in an atmosphere heavy with dissension. The dismantling of the barricades paralyzing a second border post was still in progress at the beginning of the afternoon. Kosovo police said they were fired upon four times, with no casualties, and reported “bad treatments” suffered by Kosovar Albanians.
Belgrade has never recognized the independence proclaimed by Kosovo in 2008, a decade after a bloody war that claimed 13,000 lives, mostly Albanian Kosovars. Since then, the region has been the scene of episodic frictions. This new outburst of violence follows Pristina’s decision to impose new administrative and border rules on the Serbs. Under the measures, which were due to come into effect on Monday but were pushed back for a month, Kosovo authorities were providing temporary residence permits to people entering Kosovo with a Serbian identity card.
Under pressure from Western powers and in particular from the United States, a great ally of Kosovo, Pristina announced on Sunday evening the postponement of the entry into force of the new measures for a month, until September 1. NATO forces deployed in Kosovo had warned that they “would intervene if stability were compromised”.