Kosovo police on Sunday used tear gas to separate groups of Albanians and Serbs during protests in the divided northern town of Mitrovica against Serb-sponsored municipal elections.
This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog - islamineurope.blogspot.com
Hundreds of Albanians demonstrated against the elections, which were held Sunday in the northern parts of Kosovo despite warnings by Kosovo and the European Union's law-enforcement mission in Kosovo that they would not recognize the results.
The Albanians, led by veterans of the 1998-99 insurgency against Belgrade, say the elections are illegal and breach the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo.
"There was a delicate situation, since the two groups were approaching each other at the main bridge (in Mitrovica)," Besim Hoti, a Kosovo police spokesperson, told the German Press Agency dpa. "Therefore the police used tear gas to disperse both crowds, in order to prevent a physical contact between them."
Eyewitnesses say both groups threw stones at each other.
The police sealed off the bridge, which divides the city between the Albanian south and Serbian north. NATO troops were also deployed on the bridge.
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Source: Earth Times News
See also: Kosovo: Danish army attacked for favoring Albanians
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