MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo Albanians have blocked roads and burned tires on a planned route by Serbia’s president who is visiting Serbs in the former Serbian province.
Aleksandar Vucic planned to visit a Serb-populated village in central Kosovo on Sunday, but the roads leading to the region were blocked by wooden logs, trucks and heavy machinery.
Serbian media said gunfire could also be heard, but those reports couldn’t be independently verified. Vucic wasn’t under attack.
Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic blamed the blockades on former Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers who fought Serb troops in Kosovo during the 1998-99 war for independence.
The conflict ended with a NATO intervention that forced Serbia to pull out of Kosovo. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 which Serbia doesn’t recognize.
