Kosovo police keeps protesters from blocking borders

(PODUJEVO) - Kosovo police on Sunday prevented up to 2,000 hardline ethnic Albanian nationalist protesters from blocking border crossings with Serbia.

Police in anti-riot gear stopped around 1,000 protesters from the nationalist Self-Determination Movement from moving beyond Podujevo, a town in northern Kosovo some six kilometres (four miles) from the main Merdare crossing to Serbia.

Demonstrators carried banners saying "Serbia Will Not Pass Through" and had announced a blockade of the border to prevent Serb products from entering Kosovo's territory.

"We are against Serbia and we will protect the (Kosovo) republic and our domestic products," Self-Determination leader Albin Kurti told journalists.

He vowed that the demonstration would continue despite the blockade, saying: "We came here and we will stay here".

Kosovo police said another group of around 1,000 protesters has also tried to reach the Konculj border crossing some 70 kilometres to the east of Pristina. They too were stopped by police.

Authorities said traffic from Serbia passed the border and eight Serbian trucks had entered Kosovo on Sunday.

Last weekend a similar protest saw over 50 people wounded, including 31 police officers.

The Self-Determination Movement, which is the third biggest party in the Kosovo parliament, opposes all contact with Serbia and is working for unification with neighbouring Albania.

The European Union has described the protests as "completely unjustified".

Belgrade and Pristina have been at loggerheads since Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008. But the two sides agreed to free trade in September after months of EU-mediated talks.

Some 90 percent of imported food in Kosovo comes from Serbia.