(dpa) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned Monday's violence in the north Kosovo town of Mitrovica and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
"The violence committed by Serbian demonstrators against the (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) UNMIK police and (the Kosovo Force) KFOR peacekeepers is unacceptable and unjustified," he said.
Steinmeier said all parties had to accept the presence of UNMIK in the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo as its role there was covered by a UN resolution.
He said the international community would act against anyone questioning the presence of UNMIK, and warned against allowing Serb nationalists to gain the upper hand.
Around 100 people were injured in the violence, which erupted after KFOR and UNMIK entered a UN courthouse to eject Serb protesters who had occupied the building since Friday.
Mitrovica is the hub of the largest Serb enclave in the Albanian- dominated Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia on February 17.
Hardliners in the Serbian capital Belgrade hope to keep Albanian authority out of northern Kosovo by enforcing a de facto ethnic partition and boycott of UN and other international organizations.
Kosovo had been run by UN since NATO ousted Belgrade's security forces from it in 1999.