Kosovo authorities have urged citizens and diaspora to avoid going through Serbia amidst reports of plans to block roads that lead to border crossings with Kosovo.

The Kosovo Police claim they have everything under control and said that they do not expect an escalation of the situation following the anticipated closure of border crossings on Friday. x

“We expect  everything to go well if we have blockades in the border crossings with Serbia. The citizens should be careful not to frequent these border crossings from 18:00,” Veton Elshani, the deputy director of the Kosovo Police for the north told BIRN on Thursday.

“Based on the information we have, the blockade will not affect all points and there is no possibility of  escalation of the situation. In any case, we will be here,” he said. 

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora calls on all citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, including members of the diaspora, who have planned or are planning transit through the territory of Serbia, to avoid all entries and exits at the border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia,” MFAD said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The ministry claimed that “a so-called ‘Organizational Committee for Blockades’ in Serbia has announced plans to block roads leading to border crossings with Kosovo on September 6.” 

This warning was issued following the Kosovo Government’s recent closure of Serbian-backed parallel institutions in the Serb majority northern part of the country, a move that has sparked local protests and drawn international criticism.

On Thursday, the former minister of Local Government Administration, Ivan Todosijevic, was questioned on suspicions of falsifying documents. On Wednesday, September 4, five officials of the Serbian parallel structures in Kosovo were also questioned by the Kosovo police on similar suspicions.  The former mayor of the parallel municipality of Mitrovica, Milan Radojevic, was also questioned. 

“Their questioning is related to last week’s closure of the parallel municipalities,” Elshani told BIRN.

On Friday, August 30, the Kosovo Police raided five premises in the Serb-majority north, operated by Serbia-backed “parallel institutions.” They said they acted after they received information that falsified documents were being issued there.

The raids resulted in the closure of the parallel municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Leposavic and Zvecan, and the parallel offices of the Mitrovica District.

Police said they confiscated documents, tech devices, and relevant evidence. They also raided the hospital in North Mitrovica and confiscated a military jacket, a bag, rounds of ammunition, two knives, and a hunting gun sheath.

On Sunday, at the building of the former parallel municipality of Mitrovica, Kosovo authorities put up a signboard for the Department for Drivers’ Licences, part of the Kosovo Ministry for Environment and Spatial Planning. Official Kosovo signs were installed in other buildings previously used by Serbia-run parallel offices.

The Kosovo government claims that the closed offices, which are illegal in Kosovo, threaten Kosovo’s constitutional order.

In 2013, Kosovo and Serbia agreed in Brussels on the dissolution of so-called parallel institutions, effectively financed and run by the government of Serbia. The agreement has not been implemented in its entirety.

The weekend closure follows simmering tensions after hundreds of Serbs protested on August 7 against the Kosovo government’s move to open the main bridge in Mitrovica, which divides the Serb-dominated north and Albanian south of the city.