Vucic: situation at Kosovo-Serbia border 'very serious'

Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbs in Kosovo suffered "one of the most difficult days" and that the situation at Kosovo's border with Serbia was "very serious."

"We will know how to protect our country, there is no doubt about it," Vucic told reporters at a news conference in Belgrade, indicating that the response would be "economic and political" and not by force.

Tensions soared earlier in the day at the Jarinje crossing as Kosovo deployed riot police while Serbs protested a move by Kosovo authorities to start removing Serbian license plates from cars entering the country.

Kosovo special police with armoured vehicles were sent to the border as hundreds of Kosovo Serbs drove to the boundary in their cars and trucks, blocking roads leading to the the crossing points.

Serbia doesn't recognise its former province of Kosovo as a separate state and considers the mutual border only as an "administrative" temporary boundary.

Vuvic urged the international community to persuade the Kosovo government to back down.

"I appeal to members of the international community to reason with the unreasonable, to lead them to a better knowledge of the law, and to encourage them to behave in civilized way," he said.

Thousands of people were killed and over one million were left homeless after a 1998-1999 bloody crackdown by Serbian troops against Kosovo Albanian separatists.

The war ended only after NATO intervened.

Kosovo then declared independence in 2008. It has been recognized by the United States and other Western nations, but not by Serbia or its allies Russia and China.

IMAGE: AP