Kosovo Serbs gather in latest protest after quitting institutions

Hundreds of ethnic Serbs rallied in Kosovo on Sunday as a dispute over vehicle license plates heightened ongoing tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.

The government's decision to gradually ban Serbia-issued license plates has angered Kosovo Serbs, most of whom live in the north of the country and do not recognise Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence. 

The Kosovo PM Albin Kurti's demand that the police begin to issue warnings to those who continued to use Belgrade-issued licence plates led members of the ethnic Serb minority to leave their government jobs on Saturday in a protest over the directive.

During Sunday's protest in the northern Kosovo Serb-majority municipality of North Mitrovica, Serb political leaders said the police officers, judges and other public employees would not return to their jobs unless Kosovo's government reversed its license plate policy.

"We are on our land, and we will not give up," Serb politician Goran Rakić said. "There is no withdrawal. Long live Serbia."

The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in the country, KFOR, has stated that it stands ready to intervene in case of further on-the-ground escalations.

Demands for increased rights for Albanians and an end to active oppression sparked a 1998-1999 armed conflict in which some 13,000 people died. 

At least 1 million became refugees after the government in Belgrade led by strongman Slobodan Milošević launched a brutal crackdown against Kosovo's ethnic Albanians. 

NATO bombed Serbia and Montenegro — which were in a state union at the time — in 1999 to end the war.

The Serbian government, with support from China and Russia, has refused to acknowledge Kosovo's statehood and has blocked its membership in international organisations like the UN and