Serbs Block Border As Kosovo Cracks Down On Parallel Municipalities

People were getting on a bus in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, on September 6 to join a border blockade. Activists from Kosovo and Serbia unfurled banners across Serbia's access routes to Kosovo, and vigilante patrols checked drivers, letting only those with Serbian documents drive through. Serbian police did not interfere. Kosovar authorities, meanwhile, suspended traffic at the Brnjak and Merdare border gates. The protesters oppose Kosovo's closure of five Serbian local councils that were not elected in polls organized by Kosovo. "We'll continue to protest here until the issue of northern Kosovo is resolved," a demonstrator from Serbia, Dragisa Miric, said and demanded that the international KFOR and UNMIK forces replace the police in Serb-inhabited areas of Kosovo. He later told RFE/RL that the protesters had lifted the blockade until October 1 and will wait to see whether their demands are met.