Hundreds of Serb women demonstrated in northern Kosovo on Wednesday in protest at ethnic Albanian authorities who have accused them of wanting to “ghettoize” the Serb minority.
The protest in northern Mitrovica – long a focal point between Serbs and ethnic Albanians – came as Serb and Kosovar officials tried to find a solution to a dispute over number plates.
The dispute erupted after Kosovo said the country’s ethnic Serbs would be fined if they did not swap Serbia-issued license plates for Pristina-issued ones.
The underlying source of tension is Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008. The latter does not recognize the move and has encouraged Kosovo’s Serb minority to remain loyal to Belgrade.
Kosovan Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Tuesday he was delaying a plan to impose license plate fines by two days.
The delay helped calm tensions in northern Kosovo, a day after EU-brokered negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina over the potentially explosive plan failed to yield results.
“I look forward to working with the US and EU over the next two days to find a solution,” Kurti tweeted.
The dispute has raised alarms in the European Union, which is trying to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo and both want to refrain from provocative gestures.
But protesters in the city of Mitrovica accused Albin Kurti of “terror” and “inhumane treatment” as they marched through the streets of the northern city.
Some held up placards that read, “Women unite to liberate the ghetto” and “It’s not a whim, I want peace.”
“Our goal is to offer our children peace, freedom and a peaceful childhood,” Gordana Savic, head nurse at Mitrovica Hospital, said as she addressed the other protesters.
The row over license plates has also provoked the anger of Kosovo Serbs in official positions.
Hundreds of police, judges, prosecutors and other officials have left their posts, leading to a breakdown in the rule of law and raising fears of heightened tensions.
Mitrovica has been ethnically divided between the Serb-majority north and the Albanian-majority south since the 1998-1999 war between Serb forces and Albanian rebels.
Kosovo’s Serb minority, numbering around 120,000, is denying its loyalty to Pristina, in line with Belgrade’s wishes.
