Serbs to Set Up Crisis Headquarters in Northern Kosovo

Kosovo Serbs ProtestBELGRADE (Sputnik) – A crisis headquarters will be created by Kosovo Serbs who have set up barricades because of the actions of Pristina, Goran Rakic, leader of the Serbian List party, said.Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic held a national Security Council meeting on Sunday over Pristina’s threats to forcefully remove barricades erected by Serbs in the north of Kosovo.”We will form a crisis headquarters that will inform citizens and the media about the situation on the ground. I call on citizens, given the high degree of tension resulting from the threats from Pristina, to remain peaceful and restrained, but also vigilant,” Rakic told TV Pink on Sunday night.Earlier in the day, Kosovo’s de facto leader Albin Kurti urged the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) to dismantle road barricades erected by local Serbs in the north of the breakaway region. If KFOR refuses to step in, Kosovo’s own security forces will be ready to carry out this operation themselves, Kurti said.Serbs in the northern part of Kosovo began setting up barricades on Saturday in protest against the arrest of Dejan Pantic, a former police officer who quit his post in mid-November and was arrested by the Kosovo authorities at the Jarinje border crossing on suspicion of “terrorism.”On Saturday evening, Vucic said in his address to the nation that Belgrade would send a formal request to the KFOR mission command for permission to deploy the Serbian military and police in Kosovo. He also showed photos of Kosovar soldiers in heavy equipment and with automatic weapons in the north of the region near the border with Serbia. Vucic recalled that, according to the agreements reached earlier, special police forces can only be deployed to the Serb-majority municipalities with the authorization of regional heads.

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