Protesters rally in Belgrade in support of ethnic Serbs amid unrest in Kosovo

Protesters have marched through the Serbian capital Belgrade in support of ethnic Serbs who have been blocking main roads in Kosovo as protests rage over the arrest of a former ethnic Serb police officer.

The demonstrators waved flags of Kosovo, the Balkan country's former province, in Serbian flag colors and sang patriotic songs about it, reports said.

The protesters insisted that Kosovo was “an integral part of Serbia” and defied the former province's independence that it proclaimed in 2008.

The roads in northern Kosovo were blocked with heavy vehicles and trucks a day after a Kosovo-Serb officer Dejan Pantic, who was charged on December 10 with domestic terrorism, was accused of being a perpetrator of attacks on the elections commission in northern Kosovo.

The roadblocks came despite the postponement of the December 18 municipal election opposed by Serbs in Kosovo, reports said.

Last month, ethnic Serb mayors in northern Kosovo municipalities, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, left their jobs in mass resignation in protest against the gradual ban of Serbia-issued license plates in Kosovo.

Pristina said it would require Kosovo Serbs to scrap Belgrade-issued car license plates dating to before the 1998-99 Kosovo War that led to the death of thirteen thousand people ending in the country's independence.

Serbian president threatens intervention as ethnic tensions flare in northern Kosovo

Tensions have heightened in northern Kosovo after ethnic Serbs on Sunday blocked roads in protest against the arrest of a former ethnic Serb police officer, with the Serbian president warning that his troops are ready to intervene if peace doesn

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has insisted that both sides must de-escalate following the third day of road blockade by ethnic Serb protesters.

"I know the two parts are willing to de-escalate and I strongly call on the two of them to do it," Borrell said as he arrived at a meeting of EU foreign ministers. "They have to come back to the dialogue; they have to overcome this tendency to fighting in the street."

''They must return to the EU-facilitated dialogue, once again, a tasking from the General Assembly of the United Nations to the European Union, and to me as a facilitator of this dialogue. This is essential for both Serbia and Kosovo on their European path."

The road blockade came a day after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he would ask the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo to allow the deployment of 1,000 Serb troops in north Kosovo.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti called on the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo to intervene in the region and remove the barricades.

Kosovo, predominantly inhabited by Albanians, broke from Serbia in 1999 and declared independence in 2008. Kosovo’s independence is recognized by some 110 countries including the United States, but Serbia has not recognized it and sees its former province as part of its territory.

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