Kosovo - May 2023

Local elections were held in the north of Kosovo after Serb mayors of Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party resigned in November 2022. The election saw 3.5 per cent turnout and the victory of Kosovo Albanian candidates and one Bosnian. Violent clashes ensued when Serbs tried to prevent the newly elected officials from entering their offices and police used tear gas to disperse the masses. Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vučić placed the army on combat alert, ordering them to move closer to Kosovo’s border. Serb protesters, including groups of masked men, attacked journalists as well as NATO peacekeepers, leaving 30 of them injured. Vehicles of journalists, NATO and the police were vandalized and sprayed with the “Z” symbol used by Russian forces invading Ukraine. NATO sent an additional 700 troops to Kosovo to address the violence. The Kosovo government insists it is trying to enforce the rule of law, while the EU and the US condemned Kosovo’s “forced access to municipal buildings” and called on authorities to ”de-escalate,” with the latter imposing penalties on the country despite recognizing the elections. 

Sources: Kallxo (1), Kallxo (2), Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Balkan Insight (1), Balkan Insight (2), Balkan Insight (3), Prishtina Insight, Politico, Reuters, European Federation of Journalists, U.S. Embassy in Kosovo