Osmani accuses Serbia/ "It is trying to create tensions through criminal gangs"

2024-09-07 17:27:27, Kosova & Bota CNA

Osmani accuses Serbia/ "It is trying to create tensions through criminal

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani. Source: AP

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, has accused Serbia on Saturday of trying to create tensions and escalation in Kosovo and in the region "through criminal gangs linked to the state", after the blockades placed on the Serbian side of the border crossings between the two countries.

The Kosovar authorities closed last evening two of the border points with Serbia, Bërnjak and Merdare, after Serbian citizens set up blockades in the Serbian part of these two points and that of Jarinja, protesting against the recent decisions of the Kosovar authorities in the inhabited north with a Serbian majority.

"Serbia once again shows that it does not care about free movement, it does not care about good neighborliness. These blockades, which have been created recently, specifically aim to terrorize Albanian citizens who wanted to use these border points", said Osmani on Saturday in Podujevë, where he participated in an event.

The Minister of the Interior of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, said on Friday that these two crossing points have been closed because masked persons on the Serbian side of the border are "selectively and with a fascist approach" stopping citizens who want to transit through Serbia.

Sveçla said that all this happened "before the eyes of the Serbian police".

The REL team has seen masked persons near the blockade placed on the Serbian side of the border in Brnjak on Friday night.

"Blockades have only one purpose, to create tensions, to destabilize Kosovo and our entire region. But, at the same time, they show the direct connection between the Serbian state and the criminal gangs that organized these blockades, because as you know, the Serbian police were there and this happened in front of their eyes," said Osmani.

While the border points in Bërnjak and Merdare continue to be closed, the one in Jarinje is open for traffic without obstacles, the Kosovo Police said earlier on Saturday.

Osmani asked Kosovo's allies "to take a public stance regarding these ongoing violations by Serbia, which are violating the rights of our citizens and tend to destabilize peace and security not only in Kosovo but in our entire region." .

Serbian associations set up these blockades on the Serbian side of the border with Kosovo as a sign of protest against the closure of parallel Serbian institutions in the north of Kosovo by the Kosovo authorities on August 30.

The closure of these parallel institutions was preceded by the banning of the Serbian dinar and the closure of several branches of the Post of Serbia in the north earlier this year.

The decisions of Kurti's Government have been severely criticized as "unilateral and uncoordinated" by the international community, which has said that they risk increasing tensions.

The organizers of the blockades want Kosovo to withdraw the police from the Serbian-majority municipalities in the north, to allow the use of the Serbian dinar currency, which was banned at the beginning of this year, as well as to allow the work of parallel Serbian municipalities./ REL