Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic is meeting one ambassador after another to address increased concerns of escalating violence in Kosovo, after Nato peacekeepers were injured while defending town halls in northern Kosovo against angry Serbian protesters.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell late Monday condemned the clashes in which about 25 Nato peacekeeping soldiers were injured, calling the violence against Nato peacekeepers "absolutely unacceptable" and urging dialogue.
On Monday, several Italian and Hungarian soldiers “were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices," said Kfor, the Nato-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo, in a statement.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that 52 Serbs were injured, three of them seriously, and put the army on the highest level of combat alert.
Vucic will meet Tuesday with the ambassadors of the United States, France, Italy, Germany and Britain –known as the Quint group – as well as the head of the EU in Pristina, and will also have separate meetings with the ambassadors of Finland, Russia and China.
Ongoing tensions
The clashes come amid increased tension after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb majority area on Friday, following elections in April that the Serbs boycotted.
While ethnic Albanians make up more than 90 percent of the population of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Serbs make up a majority in the north of Kosovo.
They have never accepted Kosovo’s independence, and have demanded the implementation of an EU-brokered 2013 deal for the creation of an association of autonomous municipalities in their area.
Serbs demand that the Kosovo government remove ethnic Albanian mayors from town halls and allow local administrations financed by Belgrade resume their work.
On Friday, three out of the four ethnic Albanian mayors had to be escorted to their offices by police, who were pelted with rocks and responded with tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters.Nato soldiers
Serbs targeting Nato
On Monday in the town of Zvecan, Serb protesters clashed with police and threw tear gas and stun grenades at Nato soldiers. Some spray painted Nato vehicles with the letter Z, referring to a Russian sign used in war in Ukraine.
In Leposavic, close to the border with Serbia, US peacekeeping troops in riot gear placed barbed wire around the town hall to protect it from hundreds of angry Serbs.
NATO peacekeepers also blocked off the town hall in Zubin Potok to protect it from angry Serbs.
No incidents were reported on Monday in North Mitrovica, the fourth town where the mayor is contested.
(with newswires)
