The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has signed an order to put the military forces on the highest alert and ordered them to move immediately towards the border with Kosovo.
The Minister of Defense, Milosh Vucevic, said that the order was issued shortly after 14:00, and that the army had started its activities from that moment. Vucevic warned that the events in the north of Kosovo, where, as he said, the government is taking control of local government buildings, are not a game, but that the security of everyone in the region is being threatened.
As he emphasized, the army will fully fulfill the order of Vucic and will protect the sovereignty of Serbia and the rights of all its citizens.
"It is clear that acts of terror are being committed against the Serbian community in Kosovo ," was Vučević's statement.
Tensions are very high in the north of Kosovo, on the day when the new mayors of the four municipalities were supposed to officially start work. The most problematic situation was reported in Zveçan, which has a Serb majority population, where the Kosovo police were forced to use tear gas and smoke bombs to disperse the citizens gathered near the municipal building.
Earlier, the Kosovo police announced that they are assisting the new mayors of Leposaviq, Zubin Potok, and Zveçan to enter the official facilities of the respective municipalities. The media also report on gunshots, while a Kosovo police vehicle was also burned.
Also around noon, alarm sirens were heard in the North of Kosovo, with many members of the Serbian community gathering to hold the public buildings of the municipalities hostage. Radio Free Europe reports that several trucks are parked blocking the roads in and out of Leposaviq.
Members of EULEX and the NATO mission, KFOR, are also deployed in the movement. A helicopter of the peacekeeping mission also flew over Zveçan.