Mitrovica, Kosovo

The Serb mayor of North Mitrovica, Goran Rakic, told an extraordinary session of the local assembly in the northern Kosovo town on Tuesday that he is resigning because of Pristina's decision to increase import tariffs on Serbian goods and because of violations of the human rights of Serbs living in Kosovo. 

Simic also said that representatives of the emergency HQ (in Kosovska Mitrovica) have spoken with the families of the four Serbs and their lawyers.

The Serbs have been remanded in prison for 30 days. "They are in prison, a center for high security cases, for which there's absolutely no basis to be used in such situations," Simic said.

According to reports, the protests are taking place on Friday in several Serb communities in Kosovo and Metohija.

The majority of citizens are at the protest in Rudare, where they carry the flags of Serbia and slogans inviting the international community to react. Some of them read, "EU, open your eyes," "Do not starve our children," "We don't want to go to ghettos."

Security expert Zoran Dragisic commented on events in Kosovo and Metohija for Prva TV the same morning.

Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang responded to this on Friday on Belgrade by saying he will notify the president of China about this in the course of the day.

President Aleksandar Vucic has had extraordinary meetings with the army and police chiefs this morning.

Other security services, as well as commanders of special military and police units, also took part in these meetings.

Milan Radoicic,  a leading figure in northern Kosovo close to Serbia's ruling Progressive Party, has expanded his business operations in Serbia by becoming part-owner of a construction company with another Kosovo Serb, Zvonko Veselinovic.

Vucic, now Serbia's president - whose party came to be as an offshoot of the Serb Radicals (SRS) in 2008 - said these moments had to do with "the signing" of the (EU-brokered 2013 Kosovo) Brussels agreement, and the reduction of salaries and pensions.

Courts in the north of Kosovo are plagued with stalled trials and postponed hearings, which some blame on a backlog of cases and lack of translators, while others claim that the courts themselves are not doing enough.

"Do we have any draft solutions in Brussels? We do not, we are not even close to it," President Aleksandar Vucic said in a speech before thousands of Serbs in the Serb-run northern half of the divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica.