KFOR reinforces its positions on the Kosovo-Serbia border over a protest at the Jarinje pass

MADRID, 18 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The NATO mission in Kosovo (KFOR) has confirmed that it has increased its presence at the Jarinje pass, on the border with Serbia, after a group of Serbs came to protest against the presence of the Kosovar Police.

The Serbian citizens passed a first security line but were detained 50 meters from the checkpoint, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reports.

In response to the possible presence of "criminal groups" among the protesters, a KFOR spokesman confirmed to the Kosovar newspaper Koha the start of an operation to reinforce troops in the area.

"It is necessary that all the people who participate in the protest avoid violence and peacefully express their opinion, avoiding disproportionate actions, aggressive attitudes and behaviors that can be misinterpreted or understood as provocation or unnecessary violence," the spokesperson requested.

The arrests of two former Kosovar Serb police officers led to an uprising at barricades last week by the population of northern Kosovo, with a Serb majority and now in the midst of an institutional vacuum, which forced the Kosovar Police to assume temporary control of the border crossings with Serbian.

All of this, in a crisis that has escalated until the request made this Friday by Serbia for NATO to allow the deployment of Belgrade's security forces in Kosovo, an unprecedented request since the end of the conflict.