The main roads in Kosovo were still blocked by local Serbs, with the Jarinje and Brnjak administrative border crossings remaining closed.

The Kosovo Serbs protesting over the recent arrest of former Kosovo police officer Dejan Pantic are still at the barricades, while the Kosovo police have also blocked access to north Kosovo, according to Serbian state television RTS.

Pantic was arrested by Kosovo police on Saturday and is suspected of organizing “a terrorist attack on the offices of the election commission” and on Kosovo police units in the run-up to the local election in four Serb-dominated municipalities in north Kosovo, scheduled for 18 December. The election was boycotted by ethnic Serb parties.

On Saturday, Kosovo President, Vjosa Osmani, postponed the snap local election in four north Kosovo municipalities for April 2023.

On Monday, Pantic was remanded and given 30-day detention. Pantic was previously a police officer with the Kosovo police station in Kosovska Mitrovica, until early November. He was arrested on the Jarinje border crossing.

Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, downplayed the incident, saying that Pantic was arrested “while bringing bread to his family” which lives in the building which also houses offices of the local election commission. Local Serb leaders are interpreting the incident as an attempt to “intimidate” local Serbs in northern Kosovo.

Vucic announced that on Thursday the Serbian government would send an official request to the Nato-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo KFOR to allow the return of 1,000 Serbian armed forces and police to Kosovo, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1244.