Kosovo Serbs Continue Protests Against New Mayors in North

Kosovo Serbs gathered in front of municipal buildings in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo early on Monday, protesting against newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors, while Kosovo Police and NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, upped their presence to secure the area.

Meanwhile, in the capital, Pristina, the newly elected mayors of Zvecan, Ilir Peci, and of Zubin Potok, Izmir Zeqiri, met the EU Ambassador in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, and US Ambassador, Jeffrey Hovenier.

Both mayors are members of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK. The new northern mayors from the ruling Vetevendosje party, Lulzim Hetemi of Leposavic and Erden Atic of North Mitrovica, did not participate .

Atic, who has not faced trouble from the locals entering the municipality building in North Mitrovica, told BIRN: "We will meet [EU and US representatives] soon. With a lot of pleasure. We expect support and cooperation."

Meanwhile, Hetemi managed to enter the municipality building in Leposavic, while hundreds of protesters remained outside.

The EU office in Pristina told BIRN that Sunyog and Hovenier "called on the two mayors to show restraint and not resort to any actions that may spark further incidents and potential escalation".

After the meeting, Hovenier met President Vjosa Osmani and told the media: "It is important to avoid situations where public officials are approaching public facilities with the use of force, so the conversation with the President was how they can fulfill their duties to serve the citizens."

On Sunday, the embassies of the so-called Quint - France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States - and the European Union in Kosovo, said in a press release that "the Quint and EU's expectation is that the...