Tensions rise as Kosovo Serbs clash with police over town hall control.

NATO peacekeeping soldiers formed security cordons around three town halls in Kosovo as police clashed with Serb protesters, while Serbia's president put the army on the highest level of combat alert. The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb majority area after elections the Serbs boycotted. Serbs demand that the Kosovo government remove ethnic Albanian mayors from town halls and allow local administrations financed by Belgrade resume their work.