Kosovo protest clashes kill two WORLD NEWS DIGEST
Financial Times (London, England) - February 12, 2007 Monday (London Edition 1)

By NEIL MACDONALD

PRISTINA - Violent clashes in Kosovo between thousands of pro-independence protesters and United Nations police left two protesters dead and two more critically injured over the weekend as frustrations at international proposals for the final status of the Serbian province boiled over.

UN policemen in Pristina, Kosovo's main city, used truncheons, rubber bullets and teargas in the confrontation with about 3,000 ethnic Albanians denouncing the "future status" package to protect minority Serbs.

Stephen Curtis, Kosovo's UN police commissioner, promised an independent inquiry into the deaths. Neil MacDonald, Pristina

Copyright 2007 The Financial Times Limited

Kosovo protester shot at point-blank range - eyewitness
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - February 11, 2007, Sunday

Text of report by Kosovo Albanian television KohaVision TV on 11 February

[Announcer] Mon Balaj from Podujeva [Podujevo], who died today in a Shkup [Skopje, Macedonia] hospital was shot and wounded by the police from a distance of 5 meters, an eye witness said. Kosova [Kosovo] Prime Minister Agim Ceku today visited the Balaj family to pay his respects.

[Reporter] Mon, the third child of Kadri Balaj, died today after yesterday's [10 Feb] clashes. He was wounded in the head. He received first aid at Prishtina [Pristina] Hospitals and Clinics and later transferred to a Shkup hospital, but nonetheless succumbed to his wounds. Mon was shot by the police inside the Iliria hotel, said his first cousin Labinot Balaj, an eyewitness. He said that he and Mon had sought refuge in the Iliria hotel, and that later the police entered the hotel and from a very short distance shot in their direction.

[Labinot Balaj] It was around 1515 [1415 gmt] and we were inside the Iliria hotel. There was three of us - Mon, myself and another person, also from Podujeva. Suddenly a number of policemen entered the building and we started running. I ran fast and I only saw Mon lying on the floor later on.

[reporter] Mon's father Kadri [Balaj] was saddened by the news of his son's death. Although he spoke unwillingly, he said he saw Mon for the last time in hospital and that he could not speak to him because of his wounds.

[Kadri Balaj] I saw him. He could not talk to me. It cannot get worse. We have some freedom of movement but we are not free yet. Freedom has not come yet. We have freedom of movement and we can travel freely without the presence of the Serbs. They [UNMIK United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] have exceeded what the Serbs did.

[Reporter] Many people today paid their respects to the Balaj family for their tragedy, among them Prime Minister Agim Ceku. The premier paid his respects on behalf of the Unity Team.

[Agim Ceku] I am here as a Kosova citizen and as prime minister to express my deepest condolences on behalf of the Kosova government and the Unity Team over this tragedy not only for this family but for Kosova as well. I share the family's grief.

[Reporter] The other victim of yesterday's riots is Arben Xheladini, born in 1972 in Ternoc [Trnovac] near Bujanoc [Bujanovac, Serbia], a resident of Prishtina.

Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1800 gmt 11 Feb 07

Copyright 2007 British Broadcasting Corporation

"THOUSANDS" ATTEND FUNERAL OF KOSOVO PROTESTER
BBC Monitoring International Reports - February 13, 2007, Tuesday

Text of report by Kosovo Albanian Kosovapress news agency website

Thousands of citizens attended the funeral of Arben Xheladini, who died from wounds incurred during the police intervention against the protesters of the Self-Determination movement's rally on 10 February. In their speeches, the symbol of our national resistance, Adem Demaci, and activist Glauk Konjufca said that Xheladini was a martyr of the will of the people and the struggle for liberation.

Source: Kosovapress news agency website, Pristina, in Albanian 12 Feb 07

Copyright 2007 Financial Times Information
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Copyright 2007 BBC Monitoring/BBC Source: Financial Times Information Limited

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