Serbian police go on strike after independence, Jovic sot
(29 Feb 2008) SHOTLIST Kosovska Mitrovica - 28 January 2008 1. Various wides of United Nations vehicles inside compound where explosion took place 2. Mid of NATO soldiers inside compound 3. NATO vehicle 4. Sealed area where explosion occurred Kosovska Mitrovica - 29 January 2008 5. Various NATO securing area where explosion took place 6. Serbs protesting outside United Nations court, blocking the entrance to UN courthouse 7. Protesters waving Serb flags 8. Wide of protesters gathered on square 9. Various United Nations riot police at protest 10. Mid of protestors 11. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Nebojsa Jovic, Kosovo Serb leader: "You can't be at home waiting. Because you can wait for Hashim Thaci, for the Albanian police, for the Albanian customs officers who will only come here to chase you away." 12. Mid of protestor 13. Wide of protest Gnijlane - 29 January 2008 14. Wide of police HQ 15. Kosovo Police Service (KPS) officers 16. Tilt up of KPS officer after he handed badge and weapon in 17. Various of police 18. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Stojan Milosevic, KPS Serbian Police Commander: "We asked for Serbian policemen to be deployed in Serbian villages and they turned it down. We've asked to work under UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo,) they turned it down. Larry Wilson (UNMIK official) is supposed to come and talk to us." 19. Pan of KPS STORYLINE Police officials in eastern Kosovo said on Friday that dozens of Serb police officers have been suspended from work for two days, after refusing to take orders from ethnic Albanian chiefs. The officers have handed in their guns and badges to their superiors. In other regions of Kosovo, Serb police officers were discussing with United Nations officials whether to stay in the force or leave. The defections will delight authorities in Belgrade, who have been encouraging Kosovo's Serbs to boycott the fledgling government's institutions. However, it will come as a blow to Kosovo's United Nations mission, which has poured millions of dollars (euros) and years of effort into creating and training the force. More than one hundred Serbian officers from the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) stood outside a police station in Gracanica, a Kosovo Serb enclave east of Pristina, on Friday in protest at Kosovo's declaration earlier this month of independence from Serbia. "We asked for Serbian policemen to be deployed in Serbian villages and they turned it down. We've asked to work under UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo,) they turned it down," KPS Serbian Police Commander Stojan Milosevic told AP Television. The 7-thousand strong KPS was created in 1999 in the aftermath of the NATO bombing campaign and subsequent withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo and has grown steadily since its formation. There are now deep divisions in Kosovo's multiethnic force challenging the authority of the ethnic-Albanian dominated institutions in Kosovo. Some 800 Serbs in Kosovo's police want to work under the auspices of the United Nations and not take orders from ethnic Albanians. Most of the Serb policemen are in Kosovo's north, controlled by the Serb minority. An estimated 85 per cent of KPS officers are ethnic Albanians, the remaining 15 per cent is made up of ethnic Serbs and other smaller minorities. Elsewhere, an explosion on Thursday evening shattered the uneasy calm in the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica, damaging two UN vehicles. No one was hurt, police said. Serbia intends to take legal action against governments that recognised Kosovo's move. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
