Thousands of Serbs have taken to the streets of Kosovo: They want to vote in the Serbian elections – New Time

Thousands of people protested on Friday against the Kosovo government’s decision not to allow Serbs living in Kosovo to vote in the April elections in neighboring Serbia. Peaceful demonstrations took place in Gračanica and Mitrovica after diplomatic efforts aimed at opening polling stations for Serbian parliamentary and presidential elections in Kosovo failed. “We refuse to deprive us of fundamental rights and make us second-class citizens,” said Kosovo-Serb politician Dalibor Jevtic on protest in the predominantly Serbian town of Gračanica in central Kosovo, which was attended by several thousand people. Almost a thousand demonstrators also gathered in the divided northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, writes AFP. In the past, members of the Serbian minority have been able to cast votes in Serbian elections in polling stations established in Kosovo in the presence of international observers. This time, however, Belgrade and Pristina were unable to agree on such a regime, despite pressure from the West. Serbia will hold presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections on April 3. Already in January, the Kosovo government did not allow ethnic Serbs to vote in a Serbian referendum on constitutional changes. According to the Kosovo government, efforts to hold Serbian elections in Kosovo without the consent of local authorities are undermining Kosovo’s sovereignty. Wednesday’s joint statement by the embassies of the United States, France, Italy, Germany and Britain calls on Serbia and Kosovo to resolve the election dispute and not to escalate the bottom. At the same time, it criticizes Kosovo for not sufficiently protecting the rights of minorities on its territory. The Serbian Electoral Commission announced on Thursday that it would allow Kosovo Serbs to vote in four cities in southern Serbia. Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo have persisted since the 1998-1999 civil war between Serbian troops and ethnic Albanians, during which 13,000 people lost their lives. Currently, about 120,000 Serbs live in Kosovo’s nearly 1.8 million people.