Red umbrellas as protection from the sun, wooden school chairs on both sides of the street, one metal fence with Serbian flags and barbed wire.
It's calm and sultry.
Older people, tired of waiting, mostly sit, while young people impatiently walk down the street, drinking coffee in cardboard cups, putting out cigarette after cigarette.
Just two weeks ago, tear gas was hanging over this sidewalk, the tension almost palpable, just like the fear.
Zvečan, just a few kilometers from Kosovska Mitrovica, a city divided into Serbian and Albanian parts, is one of four municipalities with a majority Serbian population where riots broke out on May 26.
The trigger of the protest was the entry of the newly elected Albanian mayors of three municipalities in the north of Kosovo, where Serbs are the majority, into the buildings of the local self-governments, with the assistance of the Kosovo Police.
The Serbs, who boycotted the local elections, opposed that decision and took to the streets.
"What they did to us is terrible, it's a disaster, the people gathered peacefully because they invaded the municipality, and then they started firing tear gas en masse at the gathered people," claims taxi driver Dragan from Zvečan to the BBC in Serbian.
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Iljir Peci, the newly elected mayor of Zvečani, told the BBC in Serbian that due to the current situation, he decided to do his work in other offices.
However, he is sure that a solution will be found.
"Our role as local self-government is to serve all citizens regardless of nationality," he says.
Metal fence and Serbian flags
I travel to Zvečan on a half-empty, old bus.
There are still fingerprints of previous passengers on the windows, while the silence is occasionally interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone.
In Zvečan, the Serbian flag flies on every other flagpole, but also on the gutters of the surrounding houses by the road.
At the roundabout, near the big welcome billboard, a KFOR vehicle is parked, but passers-by don't even pay attention.
A steep street leads to the main intersection.
On the right, dozens of people are sitting on the surrounding benches or under umbrellas.
Three KFOR soldiers, with Polish flags on their shoulders, walk behind the metal fence.
Their presence has been increased after the recent riots, they are guarding the municipality building where members of the Kosovo Police are stationed.
On May 26, Aleksandar Arsenijević, the leader of the civic initiative Serbian survival, was also on the streets.
"They asked me to take the Kosovo policemen out of the municipality, which I did, they gave me their word that they would not attack the citizens, but they went after us.
"EULEX (the EU mission in Kosovo) withdrew 30 seconds before us, even though the citizens begged to stay - they started with tear gas, I heard a shot, they started beating the women and they beat me, I ended up in the emergency room," he recounts for BBC in Serbian.
After a "relatively peaceful" weekend, riots broke out again and dozens of people and soldiers were injured in clashes that raised fears of new riots in the north of Kosovo.
Arsenijević talks about the "chaos" that ensued, claiming that the soldiers of the international NATO mission (KFOR) "beat" the protesters with batons.
"I'm sorry that this happened with KFOR, I know that people consider them a lifeline and the only international mission that can help and protect citizens," says Arsenijević.
On the street, the gathered Serbs are not in the mood to talk to journalists.
They look away, turn away, put on sunglasses or wave their hand.
"We have nothing to add", "Come another day", "Don't care about me, here he will", they say briefly.
Among those present is Igor Simić, the vice-president of the Serbian List, which is supported by official Belgrade, but at the moment, as he told the BBC in Serbian, "he has nothing to say".
Almost every chair in the nearby cafe is occupied, and on the side wall of the dilapidated two-story building with cracked windows, a capital letter Z, a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is written in red.
Mothers with children pass through the street, laden with bags full of groceries from nearby shops.
They walk quietly, with a worried look, they only turn to see if their child is there, then they continue foot in front of foot.
One of the few who wants to talk is Rade, who did not want to give his last name.
He also accuses the Kosovo police of riots and claims that "Kosovo special forces are causing fear".
"We didn't even know they were going to enter our premises, we came out to defend them.
"In a very short time, they started throwing stun grenades and tear gas, mostly there were women and children - it's like the 21st century, civilized, there is no civilization," he recounted the scenes from the street for the BBC in Serbian.
Rade grew up in these alleys and has no plans to leave them, but there is no perspective for children here, he added bitterly.
"Until November, it was somehow possible, there was cooperation, and now you are not allowed to go out into the street, so that is unheard of, where it exists, that is why there will be a war and let there be a war - may we all perish, because is this oppression," he says angrily.
'The only victims are the citizens'
He won the extraordinary local elections in the municipality of Zvečan Iljir Peci, candidate of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, winning 60 percent, or 114 votes.
He took the oath in his native village of Boljetin and is one of the two mayors who began his mandate outside the municipal building, which was a request of international diplomats in charge of the Balkans.
His office is in the Community Office in the village of Lipa, a ten-minute drive from Zvečan.
"Due to this tense situation, we decided to switch to this reserve position.
"We expect that a certain solution will be reached, but we insist that it be in the interest of all citizens," he told the BBC in Serbian.
Peci is one of the two newly elected mayors of municipalities with a majority Serbian population from the party he led. Hashim Thaci, accused before the International Court in The Hague for war crimes.
The other newly elected president of the municipality of Zubin Potok, Izmir Zećiri, from the same party, also currently holds office outside the local government building in the village of Čabra.
The newly elected president of the Leposavic municipality, as well as the new mayor of the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, are from the Self-Determination party of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.
According to information from the Pristina media, Ljuljzim Hetemi, the president of the municipality of Leposavic, is still in the local self-government building where new tensions have started.
Lipa is reached by a well-maintained paved road, and it is one of the villages in the municipality of Zvečan where Albanians make up the majority, between 450 and 500 of them.
The exact number of inhabitants is not known, and the census is planned for September 2023.
The villages have two clinics and two schools attended by 67 students.
In a building with a yellow facade, on a slight rise, I am greeted by a small seated man who greets me in Albanian - he is one of the security guards.
It's so quiet, I can hear my own heartbeat.
There is not a single piece of trash on the narrow sidewalk to the main entrance, the grass has just been mowed, and two flags of the European Union and one of Albania are flying from the surrounding poles.
The working hours notice is bilingual, in Albanian and Serbian.
Iljir Peci has been involved in politics for two decades.
"Our role is constructive and we want to serve not only the citizens of our villages, but also other citizens in the municipality of Zvečan.
"From this position, I would say that the victims are only citizens of all these municipalities in the north, I am convinced, and it is very necessary for the situation to calm down and for us to return to normal life," he says.
Although local Serbs and official Belgrade they dispute his, as well as the legitimacy of other mayors, he says that "these elections are legal in the sense of the law."
"They were announced for all citizens and there was an opportunity for everyone to be part of that process, and I personally believe that, even though I have a small number of votes, there is a force of legitimacy on the ground," says Peci.
As "officials of the state of Kosovo, it is our duty and job to provide services to the local population," he explains in a calm voice.
"Which solution will be found is not up to us, it will be decided by the republican authorities and we hope that it will happen quickly."
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Ljulzzim Peci, head of the Office, sits across the street.
"In the beginning, we were an office for all kinds of things, that's what they call us, we were like a bridge between the Government of Kosovo and the municipality of Zvečan, we maintained contact, we dealt with all problems, civil servants and the mayor worked with us.
"There were some difficulties before, but now everything is very complicated, we have not received salaries for five months, commodity services, health care are also suffering, people live under stress and this does not help anyone," he said in Serbian.
In the Office, residents of Zvečan municipality of all nationalities, in addition to the police station, could take out identity cards or passports, and register vehicles.
"This kind of situation does not suit anyone," repeats the chief.
New elections - a way out of the crisis?
Political representatives of Serbs have warned that they will not participate in the mayoral elections in the north of Kosovo, primarily because of the refusal of the Pristina authorities to form the Union of Serbian Municipalities (ZSO).
This institution, although provided for by the so-called Brussels Agreement signed ten years ago, has not yet been implemented founded.
Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti rejects the establishment of the ZSO, considering it to be the path to the creation of a Serbian state in Kosovo, but Brussels and Washington have repeatedly emphasized that this obligation must be fulfilled.
"The formation of the ZSO would solve the collective rights of the Serbs, primarily economic and social, our neighbors the Albanians and we should understand that we have to live together," says Aleksandar Arsenijević.
This 31-year-old was the only Serbian candidate in the extraordinary election for the mayor of the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, but he also withdrew before the vote.
"I said that I will withdraw my candidacy if the Serbs do not return to the institutions and if the talks on the ZSO are not started, since none of that happened, I withdrew as I promised.
"We realized that the elections cannot be held in democratic conditions and that the citizens will not come out despite all the events," explains this decision.
A new turnout with the participation of Serbs, as well as the formation of the ZSO, is also demanded by the international envoys for Kosovo, in order to solve the current crisis.
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić he says is that before the new elections greater autonomy should be provided to the Serbs and the formation of the Union of Serbian Municipalities, which the Prime Minister of Kosovo still refuses Albin Kurti.
"The international community was adamant not to invade municipalities with special units, and Kurti 'spit' in her face and she has to wash herself and come to her senses.
"He must implement some restrictive measures, because what is happening now is not a solution for anyone," Arsenijević believes.
"Leave us alone"
There is also an unofficial taxi stand at the beginning of the main street in Zvečan.
Dragan has been driving a taxi for years, ever since he moved from the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica to Zvečan, because, he says, they "burned down" his house.
"For a while, no one interfered with anyone, when they were there, we were here," he waves his hand towards the south.
He does not hide his anger and resentment.
"Every problem is solvable, let them leave us alone, let them retreat all the way down to the south and there you have the solution," he adds sharply.
Above the stop is a church, and right next to it is the building of the Emergency Department.
Voices can also be heard from the garden of a nearby cafe.
A narrow alley behind dilapidated houses overgrown with bushes leads to the municipal building.
Several KFOR soldiers are standing in front of the building with the Kosovo flag flying from it.
They rarely talk to the locals.
The gathered Serbs are looking for salvation from the heat under red umbrellas.
"Hey, are you staying," says an older woman.
"We're here, and you?", comes a voice from the other side.
The barbed wire is still there.
Peleven years after the declaration of independence, Kosovo was recognized by about 100 countries. However, the exact number is not known.
Pristina cites a figure of 117 countries, and in Belgrade they say that there are far fewer.
Among the countries of the European Union that have not recognized Kosovo are Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece and Romania, and when it comes to world powers, they are Russia, China, Brazil and India.
Since 2008, Kosovo has become a member of several international organizations, such as the IMF, the World Bank and FIFA, but not the United Nations.
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