Thousands of minority Serbs protest Kosovo’s decision to abolish the Serbian dinar

MITROVICA, Kosovo (AP) — Thousands of minority Serbs in Kosovo have protested a ban of the use of the Serbian currency in areas where they live. Tensions have escalated after the government of Kosovo, a former Serbian province, banned banks and other financial institutions in the Serb-populated areas from using the dinar in local transactions, starting Feb. 1, and imposed the euro. The dinar was widely used in ethnic Serbian-dominated areas, especially in Kosovo’s north, to pay pensions and salaries to staff in Serbian-run institutions, including schools and hospitals. The ban has angered both Kosovo Serbs and Serbia. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo sparred over the issue at a meeting last week at the United Nations Security Council.