Boycott of Kosovo Government
Kosovo Serbs have said they intend to form parallel institutions and assert control over infrastructure and institutions in their area in response to Kosovo's declaration of independence. After local elections in May, Kosovo Serb leaders have said they intend to form a Kosovo Serb Assembly. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo said they would not be in contact with Kosovo's Albanian government, EULEX, or any country which recognizes Kosovo's independence, threatening to sanction any clergy who do so.
A Serb minister said Serbia planned to have its "own police" in Serb areas as part of an action plan to maintain Serbia's presence in Kosovo. In Northern Kosovo Serb security forces have stopped taking orders from the government in Pristina and are under the command of UNMIK. In the eastern Gnjilane region around 100 Serb officers were suspended from the Kosovo Police Service. Stanko Jakovljevic, Serb mayor of the southern Kosovo region of Štrpce said Serb police "will do today what Serbs ... did in northern Kosovo. They will only recognise orders from international police." In central Kosovo 126 Serb police officers have withdrawn from the Kosovo Police Service refusing to take commands from the central government. Members of the Kosovo Police Service said Serb officers were being intimidated to get them to leave the police force.
On March 3, 2008, Serbian railway workers declared they no longer worked for Kosovo after blocking the passage of freight trains from central to northern Kosovo. The head of Serbia's state railroad company Serbian Railways said Serbia was "taking over its responsibilities after nine years" and that the northern part of the railway would be integrated into Serbia's railway system. On March 5, 2008 UNMIK forces said they reclaimed the railway after blocking the entry of Serbian trains into Northern Kosovo warning that any movement of trains south would "not be tolerated". The next day UNMIK officials met with officials from Serbian Railways in Belgrade to discuss the company's demands to run railways in northern Kosovo. The Managing Director of Serbian Railways Milanko Šarančić said there was no chance of UNMIK running traffic in the north of Kosovo as employees of Serbian Railways terminated their contracts with UNMIK railways. He also said that the company had begun checking lines in the north, as “UNMIK has not maintained the lines properly for nine years.“
Serb protestors have blocked Albanians from working at the northern Kosovska Mitrovica's courts, and Serb judges and court employees have demanded that they be allowed to work at the courts instead.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Unrest In Kosovo
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