ETHNIC TENSION between Albanians and minority Serbs and discontent with the European Union’s role in Kosovo erupted into violence across the newly independent state yesterday.
Gunfire and a grenade blast were heard as Serbs and Albanians clashed in Mitrovica, the ethnically divided town in northern Kosovo that is a flashpoint for violence in the tiny country which formally declared independence from Belgrade in 2008 after nine years of United Nations administration.
Five Albanian builders and two Serbs were injured by stones that were thrown by both sides, after about 100 Serbs rallied to protest against the reconstruction of houses for ethnic-Albanian families close to the Serb-controlled northern part of Mitrovica.
Police from an international EU force used tear gas to stop the fighting and said last might that the situation in Mitrovica was under control.
The UN ran Kosovo after Nato bombing ended a 1998-9 war between Serb forces and ethnic-Albanian separatist rebels, and drove Belgrade’s troops from the region.
As part of Kosovo’s independence declaration, it agreed to have an EU mission – called Eulex – take over some powers from the withdrawing UN administration and oversee police, justice and customs duties in the new state, whose sovereignty has been recognised by 62 countries.
Eulex has about 2,000 staff in Kosovo – where they work alongside some 14,000 Nato-led peacekeepers, including members of the Irish Defence Forces – but its authority is not recognised in Serb-run northern Kosovo, which demands to be ruled from Belgrade, not local capital Pristina.
Some ethnic Albanians also resent the EU role in Kosovo, and demand full independence without interference from international organisations or other countries.
A rally in Pristina yesterday by Self Determination, the main such protest group, ended with dozens of demonstrators attacking 28 Eulex vehicles at its headquarters, overturning some and smashing the windows and slashing the tyres of others.
Eulex condemned the violence and praised the “fast and efficient” response of the locally staffed Kosovo police force, which arrested 20 activists. It said criminal damage did nothing to further the interests of protesters.
The government in Pristina called the attack on Eulex “unacceptable” and urged Kosovo’s people to refrain from violence that could “seriously endanger the future of our democratic state”.
