Deputy Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Dusan Kozarev was not allowed on Thursday to enter Kosovo at Merdare crossing.

The Office for KiM said in the press release that ''this is another illegal and anti-democratic ban that was applied to representatives of our Office in one day”.

According to the statement, Kozarev was supposed to go to Prizren, where he was supposed to open an event dedicated to poetry “Lazar Vuckovic”, organized by Jedinstvo newspaper and its publisher.

RTK2 reports that several persons reported that they were prevented from crossing the Merdare crossing with a passport issued by Serbian Police Departments.

According to the people who wished to remain anonymous, at the crossing, police officers told them "that it is not possible to pass with a passport issued by the Police Departments of the cities in Serbia, but that valid and recognised is ID card i.e. a valid birth certificate with a photo for children".

Serbian media in Kosovo reports that Independent Liberal Party (SLS) announced that the party's officials will be crossing Merdare crossing today at 11 am, in a protest to the more frequent stopping and harassment of their officials at the crossings of Merdare, White Land and Jarinje.

The SLS said that the last case of stopping of the SLS officials happened yesterday at the crossing White Land (Bela Zemlja) to Srdjan Jovanovic, and kept by the Serbian MIA for several hours, and questioned by members of the Security and Information Agency.

People who make decision to ban an ambulance vehicle to cross an administrative line can not be called civilized people, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric told RTS. He added regardless of all threats and intimidation by Pristina, Serbs would remain united.

“Such a case makes you speechless. I urge the entire international community to pay attention to this case (…),” Djuric said.

The ambulance vehicle of Emergency Service from Laplje Selo hospital has been returned from Merdare crossing point under explanation “that no state vehicle may leave the territory of Kosovo, without the permission of the Kosovo Government, respectively the Ministry of Health,” Doctor Marina Markovic-Madic told RTV KIM.

“Our vehicle that was on its way to Nis to take over a patient from there has been returned from Merdare administrative crossing point,” Madic-Marinkovic added.

From the protest in the city of Kursumlija (southern Serbia) was announced that the administrative crossing of Merdare will be blocked, if the Serbian authorities fail to respond to previously submitted requests, reports portal juznevesti.com.

According to the portal, if that does not happen, next Thursday the administrative crossing with Kosovo will be blocked.

A Kosovo Serb politician was kept by members of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs at the Merdare crossing for an hour, and then he was allowed to continue his journey, reports portal Kossev quoting Caglavica based portal New press production.

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The Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) has allocated 44.4 million Euros in grants to Serbia for traffic projects, the Ministry of Construction, Traffic and Infrastructure is reported to have said in a statement on Friday.

The statement said that the bulk of the money is an investment grant of 40.6 million Euros for the construction of the first section of the Nis-Merdare-Pristina highway between the southern city of Nis and the village of Plocnik in the Prokuplje municipality.

A Kosovo Serb MP told reporters in Pristina on Thursday that the Serbian police and Security Information Agency (BIA) were harassing members of his party.

Slobodan Petrovic MP, leader of the Independent Liberal Party (SLS) told a new conference that he and his deputy Boban Stankovic had been held on separate occasions by the Serbian police at the Merdare border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia proper, adding that this was an abuse of Serbian institutions for party and political goals.

Kosovo Police states that the Mayor of Nis, Darko Bulatovic was fined on Saturday evening for failing to comply with the rules of border crossing and police orders, and that he was not injured.