Local Serbs are maintaining blockades of two bridges in the city of Mitrovica, in the north of Kosovo. Overnight, rival groups of young Serbs and Kosovar Albanians threw rocks at each other on a blocked bridge over the Ibar River, which divides the city's two communities. Tensions in the area have risen amid Pristina's efforts to exert control over two border crossings with Serbia. A previous attempt by Kosovo authorities in July to take control of the crossings left one Kosovo policeman dead.

Chanting “Allah-Akbar” (God is Great) around 1,000 people have rallied in Kosovo's capital of Pristina in a protest demanding space for a new mosque. Religious officials say they want a more central and bigger site to accommodate the growing demand of Muslim believers in the city. The protest also criticized Kosovo’s parliament, which on late Monday, August, 29th, 2011 confirmed a ban on teaching religion in schools when it voted against changes to the education law in the Muslim-majority country. Some Islamic clerics and religion Movement leaders are stepping up a campaign for religion to be taught in schools, amid fears this could deepen divisions in the troubled region. There have been several protests this year with hundreds of Muslims chanting anti-government slogans against the banning of the headscarf in school. There have been also widely published cases of girls barred from class for refusing to take off their headscarves. Kosovo has a Muslim tradition of moderate Islam and has enshrined the secular nature of the state in its constitution. Pristina declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by more than 80 countries including the US and a majority of European Union member states.

Opposition leader Albin Kurti told those gathered Wednesday that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s government is rigging public tenders and selling off public enterprises. The government has denied such accusations in the past. The protesters chanted "Thieves" and carried banners against the privatization of the country’s Post and Telecom Company, or PTK. An EU police mission has launched a series of investigations into alleged embezzlement of public funds by senior officials, including the top management of the PTK that plans to sell 75 per cent of it shares by the end of the year. Kosovo that seceded from Serbia in 2008 is considered one of Europe’s poorest regions.

Just after Stefanovic entered the Kosovo government building this afternoon, a crowd of activists from the opposition Self-determination party began throwing stones at the building and official vehicles, breaking windows. Several activists were injured after Kosovo police intervened with tear gas and batons, and activists clashed with police. The group also threw bottles of red paint at the building, chanting “shame, shame” to express their opposition to the visit of the Serbian official. Police spokesman Brahim Sadriu told Balkan Insight that 15 police officers were injured in today’s protest, two seriously. “They have been injured by stones,” Sadriu said. Six activists were also reported injured.