A gathering of Kosovo Serbs was held in North Kosovska Mitrovica earlier on Sunday; the city has been decorated with Serbian flags since Friday night. On Saturday, representatives of the Kosovo Serbs decided to pull out of all structures of the self-proclaimed republic — including the parliament, government, courts and police — due to Pristina's decision to remove the Serbian police chief for refusing to issue written warnings to local Serbs regarding car plates.
"The authorities in Pristina have been carrying out various kinds of terror against the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija for the last ten years, and especially for the last year. This is how it affects our health care: in the middle of the pandemic, when the Serbian government and President Aleksandar Vucic provided all types of vaccines for all citizens of Kosovo and Metohija, we were not allowed to get vaccinated in our clinics and we still wonder why," Elek said at the rally.
The hospital director noted that northern Kosovo should be supplied with medicines and medical equipment under the Brussels Agreement. However, no supplies are actually being delivered.
"Our medical vehicles are still being stopped, medical personnel are being intimidated, detainees are not taken to the police station in North Kosovska Mitrovica, but to the southern [Albanian] part; medication, medical equipment and supplies have been seized and have not been returned yet," Elek said.
Representatives of the education and judiciary spheres, the police, and lawmakers of the Serb List party also spoke at the gathering.
"Yesterday we resigned from our posts in the Kosovo 'parliament,' this is our personal decision and the continuation of the struggle of each of us for the respect of the international law, the Brussels Agreement, the struggle for peace and stability in this territory. We resigned with a clear conscience because for nine and a half years we tried everything — we reached out for peace and built trust. Our lawmakers, judges and police officers resigned not because we got tired of fighting but because we do not want to be a cover-up for Kosovo institutions to continue violence against our people," deputy chairman of the Serb List party said.
Tensions between Belgrade and Pristine flared up in August. The Kosovar authorities have required that local Serbs re-register their car plates, demanding that they feature the EU-standard letter code of RKS (Republic of Kosovo) instead of KM, the Serbian identifier for the disputed region of Kosovska Mitrovica on the border. The deadline for the re-registration was pushed to October 31.