UN raid on Kosovo courthouse triggers massive riot

A UN vehicle burns after Kosovo Serbs clashed with NATO's Kosovo Force soldiers in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

UN stormed a courthouse in northern Kosovo at dawn yesterday to remove Serb protesters, setting off clashes that injured dozens of international peacekeepers and demonstrators.

Hundreds Serb protesters outside the UN courthouse in Mitrovica hurled rocks and hand grenades at UN police and NATO troops, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

Troops NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) then came under fire during the riot, the worst violence in the territory since the Albanian majority declared independence last month.

"We used automatic weapons to respond but fired only warning shots," French KFOR spokesman Etienne du Fayet de la Tour said. "We shot in the air, not into the crowd."

The rioting was a challenge to the authority of NATO, the UN and a fledgling EU justice mission, underscoring fears that Kosovo could be heading for ethnic partition.

A UN spokesman said the rioting "crosses one of the red lines that had clearly been articulated by the UN to the leaders of Kosovo Serbs in the north and to officials in Belgrade."

In Warsaw, Polish national police said 22 police officers from Poland who were guarding the courthouse were injured after grenades were thrown at them.

The Poles were guarding the courthouse, which had been occupied by Serb demonstrators last week to protest Kosovo's declaration of independence.

"This morning when the people who were blocking the court building were being led out, stones were hurled in the direction of UN forces," Polish police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said on TVN24.

"Then the policemen were pelted with -- unfortunately -- grenades and probably homemade explosive devices. There are also reports of shots being fired in their direction," Sokolowski said.

Fifteen were taken to a French-run hospital while the other seven were being moved out of the area, he said, adding that the injuries were not life-threatening.

"Eight French KFOR soldiers are injured with grenades, stones and Molotov cocktails," said du Fayet de la Tour, adding that the wounds were not life-threatening.

Serbia the UN and NATO for heavy-handed action and increased the level of security on its borders, warning that the highly volatile situation risked provoking a fresh Albanian pogrom against Kosovo's 120,000 minority Serbs.

The Orthodox church said Serbs were "again being killed."

The Serb director of Mitrovica hospital, political hardliner Marko Jaksic, said three people of Serb nationality had been severely injured in the rioting.

"One person has been shot in the head most probably by a sniper. The bullet went right through," he said. "The person is in very bad condition and we had to transport him to a hospital in Kragujevac in central Serbia."

Two others were in very serious condition, he said.

The barrage of stones, grenades and firecrackers forced the UN police to pull back and leave KFOR to face the rioters.

"After attacks with explosive devices suspected to be hand grenades, and firearms, the police are ordered to withdraw from the north of Mitrovica, while the situation will be taken over by KFOR," a UN police statement said.

Rioters three UN vehicles, breaking doors and freeing around 10 people who had been detained in the morning raid, witnesses said.

The police and troops responded with tear gas. Some UN vans with detainees were still in the courtyard of the compound, with dozens of Serb protesters outside blocking their exit.

Serbian for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic demanded the release of three dozen Serb judges and former court officials arrested in the retaking of the court.

"Disregarding everything, they [UN and KFOR] carried out this action and provoked the citizenry," he said.

"We had an agreement not to undertake any action before I go to Mitrovica," he told the Serbian state news agency Tanjug.

He said he had met US diplomat Larry Rossin on Sunday and offered a plan "for resolving all issues between UNMIK and Serbia and in connection with Serbs in Kosovo."

In Brussels, the European Commission urged restraint.

"We are very concerned about the tense situation in north Mitrovica and we regret attacks against the UN police and KFOR," a spokesman for the EU executive told a regular news briefing.