Serbs still holding barricades on Kosovo and Metochia

Situation until the end of 23.12.2022.

Exactly two weeks have passed since the Serbs erected the first barricades in the north of Kosovo and Metohija as a sign of protest against the terror of the Pristina authorities. Roads in eight localities are still blocked, and there are more and more people at assembly points.

In Rudar, where a tent city was previously opened, a large protest was held yesterday under the slogan "Kurti, Kosovo and Metohija is not your dowry - it is our homeland".

Ten thousand people came to the rally, according to various estimates, and convoys of cars arrived all day from Zvečani, Zubina Potok, and northern Mitrovica. Demonstrators demanded the release of previously arrested Serbs, who defiantly resigned from their positions in the Kosovo police.

The Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings on the administrative line are still closed. In addition, Kosovo security forces began blocking roads in the north of Kosovo and Metohija.

A Kosovo police checkpoint appeared on the road near the bridge to Balban, which practically cut off two Serb-majority settlements in the north of the province, Zvečan and Mitrovica. Several checkpoints were also set up on the Mitrovica-Leposavić highway.

In the village of Brdo near Mitrovica, a gathering of ROSU members was recorded.

This could mean preparations for dismantling the Serbian barricades, which the Pristina government had previously threatened the Serbs with.

Against the backdrop of past NATO peacekeeping (KFOR) exercises using engineering equipment and supplying Pristina with Turkish Vuran armored vehicles, Kurti's decision to violently disperse Serbian protests becomes a likely scenario.