More police will be deployed in Serb areas in Kosovo during the Christmas holiday, it has been announced.

The Serbian Orthodox Church and its believers adhere to the Julian calendar and on Tuesday celebrate Christmas Eve.

Serbs from Kosovska Mitrovica will, as was the case in the previous years, go outside the town to cut oak branches (badnjaks) that will later be used in a Christmas ritual in front of the Church of St. Demetrius (Dimitrije).

Regional police chief Zeljko Bojic has told Tanjug that more police officers will be present in this down during Tuesday and on Christmas Day on Wednesday.

They will be tasked with "preserving the public peace and order" and will have "a complete rapid reaction unit at their disposal."

The Serbs from Kosovska Mitrovica will also visit the St. Sava's temple in the southern, ethnic Albanian part of the divided town.

In central Kosovo, Serbs from Gracanica will be cutting their badnjaks near Lake Gracanica and near the Pristina-Gnjilane road