UN police clash with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo

EXCERPT: UN police clash with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo
Agence France Presse (English) - May 25, 2006, Thursday

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, May 25 2006 - United Nations police clashed on Thursday with ethnic Albanians who blocked a road preventing two Serbian lawyers from entering a Kosovo village, the UN mission said in a statement.

The police were trying to escort the two lawyers, members an unnamed defence team accredited to the UN war crimes tribunal, to the southern village of Mala Krusa. [Passage omitted]

On Thursday, the villagers blocked the road in front of the convoy and failed to disperse despite police calls for them to do so, said the statement.

"The citizens responded by throwing rocks at the police and the convoy. Three police officers and one language assistant were injured," it added.

Police then used tear gas to disperse the protestors, mostly women, "resulting in injuries to a number of citizens who received medical treatment from an ambulance at the scene".

Agron Limani, the village head, told reporters the incident occurred because "the villagers thought the UN police were trying to ensure the return of Serbs to the village".

"Many woman and children were wounded," said Limani.

Local media reported that around 50 villagers had been injured or suffered from tear gas inhalation.

The head of the UN mission in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, strongly condemned the incident, saying he was "outraged and disappointed".

"It is important for the people of Kosovo to understand that their quest for justice can only be achieved through the course of justice, not by extra-judicial means," he said.

Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia with a largely ethnic Albanian population, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO air strikes ended a crackdown by Serbian forces against Albanian separatists.

Ethnic tensions remained high seven years after the end of the war, raising fears of fresh violence during talks on Kosovo's future.

Ethnic Albanians, who represent around 90 percent of Kosovo's two million inhabitants, are demanding independence from Serbia but Belgrade has said it is only prepared to offer substantial autonomy.