Around 30 NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo (KFOR) were injured on Monday in fierce clashes with ethnic Serb demonstrators.
Rising tensions led to scenes of violence after Serb protestors attempted to storm local administration buildings to oust ethnically Albanian mayors in northern Kosovo.
In April, Serbs boycotted April municipal elections in northern Kosovo municipalities, leading to Albanian mayors being elected with just over 3% of the vote. The newly elected city officials were officially given their mandate last week by the Kosovo government, which is made up of a majority of ethnic Albanians.
The Kosovo government has largely ignored pleas by the international community to appease the ethnic Serb minority in these areas, leading to angry clashes between protestors, NATO peacekeepers and local police.
In the town of Zvečan, KFOR soldiers armed with shields and batons attempted to disperse the crowd, who in turn responded by throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at soldiers. Around 20 Hungarian and 11 Italian soldiers were injured in the attacks.
Serb protestors also graffitied pro-Kremlin propaganda onto the side of buildings and cars.
Credit: Belga
NATO has condemned the attacks on its troops as "unprovoked" and "totally unacceptable."
The peacekeeping operations said that “about 25” soldiers were injured. NATO troops have been stationed in the region since 1999 following the Kosovo war and the signing of United Nations Resolution 1244.
Some 120,000 ethnic Serbs live in Kosovo. Serbia does not recognise the independence or sovereignty of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008.
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In November, Serbs resigned en masse from local governments in protest against the Kosovo government, leading to a power vacuum in the north of the country.
In an apparent warning to Kosovo, Serbia has placed its army on the highest level of readiness.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić warned that he would "not allow a pogrom of Serbian people" in Kosovo and called on the international community to bring Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti “to his senses.”
