Police in Kosovo arrest two dozen ethnic Albanians
Police in southern Kosovo have arrested two dozen ethnic Albanians during a mass demonstration against Serbs.
Special police units in full anti-riot gear on Sunday dispersed a few hundred angry demonstrators protesting against a planned visit by some 100 Serbs to the Orthodox church in Mushutishte village of the municipality of Suva Reka in Prizren district.
Footage broadcast by local television channels showed police using pepper spray to break up the demonstrators, who had convened at the entrance of the village in order to bar the Serb pilgrims from entering the church.
“Two of the officers were injured badly,” said police spokesman, Daut Hoxha, adding that despite resistance by the protesters, police finally managed to establish order and “guaranteed the freedom of movement.”
Hoxha went on to say that several protesters were also injured, adding that their wounds were “self-induced” as they “were throwing rocks and bottles without control.”
The Serb pilgrims, who had come to the village in three packed buses, however, eventually gave up observing their religious ceremony and left the area.
Local Albanian protesters justified their demonstration against the visiting Serbs by citing crimes Serbs had committed against ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo War, which lasted from February 28, 1998 until June 11, 1999.
The bloody war between invading Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas claimed some 13,000 lives, most of whom were ethnic Albanians.
In the wake of the war, tens of thousands of local Serbs fled Kosovo, fearing reprisals from the ethnic Albanian majority.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. It has so far received international recognition from about 100 countries. However, Belgrade refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence and it still continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.
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