Serbian nationalists staged torchlight processions in Belgrade and Novi Sad on the night of September 23-24 to mark the second anniversary of a deadly armed clash in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo.

The incident in September 2023 saw one Kosovo police sergeant, Afrim Bunjaku, killed, followed by the deaths of three Kosovo Serbs who were part of an armed and uniformed group under the leadership of Milan Radoičić, then vice president of the Belgrade-backed Serb List party in Kosovo.

Footage shared on social media showed flares lit at Belgrade’s Kalemegdan fortress alongside Serbian flags and banners reading “Freedom is paid for at a high price, mother” and “When the army returns to Kosovo”. A similar vigil took place on a bridge in Novi Sad.

The Banjska attack has fuelled heightened tensions between Kosovo and Serbia. Pristina has labelled the 2023 assault a terrorist act and accused Belgrade of orchestrating it, charges that Serbia denies.

Radoičić, who claimed responsibility for the attack, fled to Belgrade and remains free despite an Interpol arrest warrant issued in December 2023. Serbian courts have extended his travel ban, requiring him to report to police twice a month.

Kosovo authorities have charged 45 people in connection with the attack, with three currently on trial in Pristina. Kosovo’s outgoing Prime Minister Albin Kurti on September 24 urged the international community not to treat Serbia as a “normal state” until those indicted for the Banjska incident are extradited.

Two years on, Banjska remains largely deserted, with the monastery closed. The incident continues to be a flashpoint in the fraught relations between Kosovo and Serbia.