This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/kosovo-politician-sets-off-smoke-bomb-in-parliament

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Kosovo politician sets off 'smoke bomb' in parliament Kosovo politicians stage teargas protest in parliament
(about 5 hours later)
An opposition politician in Kosovo has set off what appeared to be a smoke bomb in parliament, amid a deepening standoff over an EU-brokered deal to improve ties between Serbia and its former southern province. Opposition politicians in Kosovo disrupted parliament’s session on Thursday, using teargas and whistles to protest against the government’s recent EU-sponsored deal with Serbia giving the country’s Serb-majority areas greater powers.
Albin Kurti, leader of the Self-Determination party, triggered the device before kicking it around the chamber to spread the smoke. There was no immediate confirmation from police of what device was used. Self-Determination described it as a gas canister. The opposition wants the government to backtrack from the deal, saying it endangers Kosovo’s territorial integrity. The governing coalition says the opposition wants to come to power through unconstitutional means.
Kurti, a former student protest leader against Serbian rule in the 1990s, is leading opposition to a slow-moving rapprochement between Pristina and Belgrade, mediated by the EU as a way to cement stability in the former Yugoslavia. “The agreements reached in Brussels and the border demarcation with Montenegro will not pass,” said a joint statement of the opposition bloc of the Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement), Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and Initiative for Kosovo. We will not allow Serbia’s return to Kosovo. Kosovo’s land will not be given away to Montenegro. The government must withdraw from these agreements.”
Nato went to war with 78 days of airstrikes in 1999 to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians in Kosovo by Serbian forces trying to crush a two-year guerrilla insurgency. Serbia rejects Kosovo’s 2008 secession, which has been recognised by more than 100 countries.
In 2008, Kosovo declared independence and has been recognised by more than 100 countries. Serbia and its powerful ally Russia are blocking its accession to the UN. Three to four teargas canisters were opened during the parliamentary session, causing several of those present to seek medical treatment. One of the canisters was opened by the Vetëvendosje leader, Albin Kurti, who later threw a glass of water at governing legislators. No arrests were made at the session.
Kurti and his followers are angry at the Kosovo government’s acquiescence to a deal creating an “association” of municipalities where minority Serbs live, saying this represents a creeping return to rule from Belgrade. A statement from the government deplored “the violence of a group of the opposition ... from which some lawmakers were injured and asked for medical assistance”. There were no reports of serious injuries.
“No one has the mandate nor the right to bring Serbia back into Kosovo,” an opposition bloc which Kurti is part of said in a statement. “We will not let this happen.” The Kosovo president, Atifete Jahjaga, denounced the “nasty actions of the opposition’s lawmakers”.
Parliamentary speaker Kadri Veseli continued the session, inviting the opposition to take part in the debate on the deals with Serbia to “together express our reservations, or displeasure, or support for the Brussels agreement”. “What is happening is not patriotism and it is not helping Kosovo,” he said.
Opposition legislator Glauk Konjufca, of the Vetëvendosje party, said the protests at the weekly sessions on Thursdays would continue. This was the third successive disturbance.
Related: Serbia and Kosovo in cooperation deal
The US embassy said some of its staff members in Pristina were among those injured in the disturbance, which it said made “a mockery of one of Kosovo’s most important democratic institutions”.
The head of the Organisation for Security and Development in Europe’s Kosovo mission, ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger, condemned the acts as “unacceptable and detrimental for democracy”.
The prime minister escaped unharmed when eggs were thrown on a street earlier this week. Isa Mustafa was the target of more eggs hurled by opposition legislators last month when he was escorted out of parliament, assisted by bodyguards who shielded him with an umbrella.