What’s behind the renewed tensions between Serbia and Kosovo?

NATO soldiers patrol near the border between Kosovo and Serbia in Jarinje on October 2, 2021 as Serbs removed trucks and cars that were used to block the border with Kosovo [File: AFP]

Tension has flared between Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs and the government in Pristina – a worrying development 14 years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.

Ethnic Serb protesters blocked access roads to two border crossings with Serbia in northern Kosovo on Sunday, July 31, and unknown gunmen fired on police, though no injuries were reported. Trucks, tankers and other heavy transport vehicles were parked on roads blocking the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings.