(30 May 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Zvecan- 30 May 2023
1. Wide of municipality building in Zvecane surrounded by KFOR soldiers
2. Various of KFOR soldiers in protective gear
3. Various of people gathered in front of Zvecan municipality building
4. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Srdjan Milosavljevic, former president of municipal assembly of Zvecan:
"I want to express our demands from yesterday which are, all special Kosovo police forces to be withdrawn from Serb majority municipalities, and the fake mayors (newly elected Kosovo Albanian mayors) not to come in the municipalities of the Northern Kosovo. I have to say that our position and demands have not changed today."
5. People gathered
6. Various of KFOR soldiers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kelmend - 30 May 2023
7. Wide of "Office for minorities " building
8. Close of flags
9. Newly elected mayor of Zvecan, Ilir Peci entering the building
10. Mid of Peci in his office
11. SOUNDBITE (Albanian) Ilir Peci, newly elected mayor of Zvecan,:
"Seeing the situation and the latest developments we did not go today to the municipality building in Zvecan because of security reasons."
12. Close of hands
13. SOUNDBITE (Albanian) Ilir Peci, newly elected mayor of Zvecan:
"In my opinion this situation is not good and it will not bring any good to the citizens. But it happened and we need to hope for a better situation, (for) these problems to stop and things to be back to normality."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Zvecan - 30 May 2023
14. Various of KFOR soldiers in front of municipality building
STORYLINE:
Kosovar police and troops from the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) were seen protecting municipal buildings in Kosovo on Tuesday.
The peacekeepers sealed off the municipality building in Zvecan where unrest on Monday sent tensions soaring and raised fears of instability and flareup in the Balkan hotspot amid increased Western efforts to resolve a long-simmering dispute.
Kosovo is a former province of Serbia whose 2008 declaration of independence Belgrade does not recognize. Ethnic Albanians make up most of the population, but Kosovo has a restive Serb minority in the north of the country bordering Serbia.
Tensions first increased over the past weekend, after ethnic Albanian officials were elected in votes overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs entered municipal buildings.
When the Serbs tried to block them, Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
In response, Serbia put the country’s military on the highest state of alert and sent more troops to the border with Kosovo.
The Serbs protested again on Monday, insisting both ethnic Albanian mayors and Kosovo police must leave northern Kosovo.
On Monday, the confrontations worsened when Serbs attempted to enter the municipal offices in Zvecan, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of the capital Pristina.
They clashed first with Kosovo police and then with the international peacekeepers who deployed in Zvecan.
Belgrade and Pristina have blamed each other for the escalation.
The flareup has triggered a flurry of international efforts to calm the situation.
AP video shot by: Florent Bajrami
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