Riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of ethnic Albanians who demonstrated in Pristina on Saturday against a UN proposal for Kosovo they said does not go far enough in granting the province independence.
Some 70 protesters requested medical assistance, mainly from the effects of tear gas, while eight were injured, four seriously, police spokesman Veton Elshani said.
Police said 15 protesters were arrested and eight officers were hurt.
PHOTO:EPA
Reporters at the scene said they saw at least two injured men covered in blood being carried away.
UN and Kosovo police broke up the protest after demonstrators tried to charge a security cordon and head toward a government building throwing stones and sticks at the officers. An estimated 3,000 people -- many carrying banners reading ``No negotiation, Self-determination'' -- took part in the rally on a main street in Kosovo's capital.
A UN car was overturned and its windows shattered as police and groups of protesters continued clashes in side streets and back alleys before they dispersed.
By late on Saturday, police said streets had been reopened and the city was returning to normal.
Chief UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari unveiled his proposal for Kosovo's future status last week.
The plan did not explicitly call for Kosovo's independence from Serbia, but spelled out conditions for self-rule -- including a flag, anthem, army and constitution and the right to apply for membership in international organizations.
Kosovo's Serb minority would have a high degree of control over their own affairs.
"We're demonstrating against Ahtisaari's package, which does not reflect the will of the people of Kosovo, but only the privileges of one minority, the Serb minority, which is being manipulated by Serbia," said Albin Kurti, the leader of the protest group.
Protesters marched and stood still for an hour before clashing with police units, which deployed at the government building and sealed off the UN mission headquarters in the province.
After the protest ended, police arrested Kurti in the group's offices, said Glauk Konjufca, an activist. Police confirmed the arrest.
The plan, which needs approval from UN Security Council to come into force, was endorsed by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders but rejected by Serbian officials in Belgrade who refuse to give up the province, considered Serbia's historic heartland.
On Saturday, protesters said the plan did not reflect the will of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, which they said want independence, not just an internationally supervised statehood.
Protest organizers say the self-rule envisioned for Kosovo's Serb minority could lead to the creation of a separate Serb entity within Kosovo.
Activists also rejected parts of the plan that call for the establishment of a new international mission that would have powers to annul decisions or laws that run against the plan itself.
Talks between the two sides are to resume on Feb. 21.
The group has held many protests against the UN administration in the province and opposed yearlong talks with Serbia over Kosovo's future.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair on Monday was found guilty of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too, but officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Brendan Banfield set
RSS