SERBS PROTEST AGAINST REMOVAL OF BARRICADES IN DIVIDED KOSOVO TOWN
BBC Monitoring International Reports - January 23, 2005

Text of report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA

Kosovska Mitrovica, 23 January: Some 100 Serb gathered today near the main bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica (divided Kosovo town) to protest against the removal of barricades by Kfor (NATO-led Kosovo Force) from the bridge. The Serbs are saying that the security situation is poor and they are urging the UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) police and Kfor to restore the barricades to the same positions at which they had been erected on 17 March 2004 (during Kosovo Albanian riots).

The usual number of Kfor soldiers is deployed on the bridge but they are backed up with additional Kfor and international police vehicles.

The head of the Association of Serb Municipalities and Settlements in Kosovo-Metohija, Marko Jaksic, said that the removal of the barricades was an attempt to show that the security situation was different what was really happening.

"UNMIK and Kfor are not interested in the fact that the security situation is poor and that the security of the Serbs of the province (Kosovo) has been deteriorating on a daily basis ever since the arrival of (UNMIK Head) Soeren Jessen-Petersen," Jaksic said.

The removal of the barricades was also strongly condemned by representatives of the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo.

In March (2004) the Albanians raided the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, signalling the beginning of a pogrom against Serbs in the province.

Two Serbs were killed and more than 70 wounded in the March clashes in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1106 gmt 23 Jan 05

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