Kosovo, the Marxist EUtopia

Serbs are having none of it



United Nations police in Kosovo have been forced to withdraw from Serb areas in the divided city of Mitrovica after clashes with Serb demonstrators. At least 22 UN police and eight Nato troops were reported injured after a raid to retake a court seized by Serbs. Troops used teargas as they faced gunfire, stones and petrol bombs.

It is the worst violence since Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence last month. Kosovo Serbs and Serbia refuse to recognise its independence. It also coincides with the fourth anniversary of a two-day episode of inter-ethnic violence in Mitrovica that left 31 people dead.



In Monday's clashes, UN and Nato vehicles were set alight as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the court. Three UN policemen and two Nato K-For soldiers were injured in an explosion, thought to have been caused by a hand grenade. Tension in the region has risen sharply since Kosovo declared independence.

In February, some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers were suspended for refusing to take orders from the ethnic Albanian authorities in Kosovo's capital, Pristina. Most EU states and the US have recognised Pristina's unilateral declaration of independence. Serbia backed by its ally Russia says the move is illegal.

Time for Russia to get in there and sort it by my reckoning.......

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