Kosovo closes largest border crossing

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Kosovo on Wednesday closed its largest border crossing after protesters blocked it from the Serbian side to support their compatriots in Kosovo in refusing to recognize the country's independence.

Along with two other crossings on the border with Serbia, closed due to similar protests since December 10, only three entry points between the two countries remain open.

The latest protest followed hours after Serbia said it had placed its army on the highest alert after weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.

Serbs in Serbia blocked the road near the Merdare crossing on Kosovo's eastern border with trucks and tractors on Tuesday, Belgrade media reported.

That blockade prevents thousands of Kosovars working elsewhere in Europe from returning home for the holidays.

Around 50,000 Serbs living in ethnically divided northern Kosovo refuse to recognize the government in Pristina or Kosovo's status as a country separate from Serbia. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government.

"If you have already entered Serbia, then you must use other border crossings... or go through North Macedonia," Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on its Facebook page, announcing the closure of the Merdare crossing.

The closure took effect at midnight, although the crossing was apparently already impassable.

The Merdare entry point is Kosovo's most important for road freight traffic.

Since December 10, Serbs in northern Kosovo have exchanged fire with police and erected more than 10 roadblocks in and around Mitrovica.

Their action followed the arrest of a former Serbian police officer for allegedly attacking police officers.

Two more roadblocks were set up in the north on Tuesday.

Kosovo, with a majority Albanian population, declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the support of the West, after the 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanians.

The government in Pristina has asked NATO's peacekeeping forces in the country, KFOR, to remove the barricades.