Posted on 03/17/2008 5:57:14 AM PDT by jhpigott
United Nations police in Kosovo have been forced to withdraw from Serbian areas in the divided city of Mitrovica after clashes with Serb demonstrators. At least 22 UN police and eight Nato troops were reported injured after a raid to retake a court seized by Serbs.
Troops used tear gas as they faced gunfire, stones and petrol bombs.
It is the worst violence since Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence last month. Serbia and Serbs in Kosovo refuse to recognise its independence.
It also coincides with the fourth anniversary of a two-day episode of inter-ethnic violence in Mitrovica that left 31 people dead in 2004.
'Excessive force'
A UN spokesman told the BBC that Nato K-For troops were left in control of the situation after the police withdrew and initial reports suggested the situation was calming down.
Serbian President Boris Tadic and the European Commission have called for restraint.
Mr Tadic is reported to have accused the international forces in Kosovo of "using excessive force," and warned of "an escalation of unrest on all the territory of the province".
Serbia's minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, who had discussed the courthouse occupation with the UN over the weekend, also criticised the security forces' actions, saying they had "provoked the citizenry".
The European Commission, however, gave its backing to the peacekeepers.
"The commission wants to express its full support to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, Unmik, and to K-For in maintaining order in Kosovo," said a spokesman.
"Violence is unacceptable. All parties should work together to build a multi-ethnic Kosovo based on the rule of law and the respect of democracy."
Monday's violence started after some 100 UN police had arrested 53 Serbs in the operation to retake the UN court in a Serb-run part of the city.
"Police did not use any force, because there was no need. There was no resistance from the other side," said Kosovo police spokesman Veton Elshani.
He said a crowd of about 200 to 300 protesters then gathered in front of the court and "started to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails".
A UN convoy transporting those detained in the raid was then attacked, and some of the demonstrators managed to escape.
Dragoljub Drazevic, one of the freed protesters, told AFP: "Police stormed into the building this morning... They handcuffed us, searched the offices and put us in a police van.
"When we were coming out of the compound, the van I was in was stopped by Serbs who trashed it and freed us."
In the violence that followed, UN and Nato vehicles were set alight. Three UN policemen and two Nato K-For soldiers were injured in an explosion, thought to have been caused by a hand grenade. Several protesters were also hurt.
As the situation escalated, UN police were ordered to withdraw, leaving Nato K-For troops to control the situation.
A spokesman for the Polish national police, which has 115 officers serving with Unmik, said none of the police injuries were life-threatening - but some were "unable to get back into their vehicle unaided".
Rallies
Many of the protesters who seized the court last week are said to be former staff who lost their jobs in 1999 at the end of the war in Kosovo, when it came under UN administration.
Kosovo Serbs are refusing to recognise Pristina's authority Serbs had staged rallies outside the building for several weeks, preventing ethnic Albanian court employees from crossing the bridge over the Ibar River that divides Mitrovica into a Serb-run north and an Albanian south.
Tension in the region has risen sharply since Kosovo declared independence.
Last week, Serbs tried to take control of a railway line in northern Kosovo.
In February, some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers were suspended for refusing to take orders from the Kosovo Albanian authorities in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
Most EU states and the US have recognised Pristina's unilateral declaration of independence.
Serbia - backed by its ally Russia - says the move is illegal.
This is going to get interesting. Will nato fire up the jets to defend their illegal quasi state? We will find out soon. Better rename them the Albanian Air force.
Has this unrest been reported to the Czar?
Imagine, the U.N. cutting and running. I’m shocked.
Yep, it all started when KLA Albanians started killing Serb police officers (lots of 'em) in Kosovo province. Yugoslav authorities moved to stop it, and were framed for genocide.
Now Serbs are going after UN police, why not, it worked for the Slime terrorists/Albanian mafia.
I'll be Putin in the word.
This Clinton “Perfect war” legacy where we bomb the enchroached Christians to assist the murderous vandal mooslims is going to blow. And we armed the moossies while bombing our allies (former).
Yep, and 7 years of Bush has done nothing to fix this time bomb, while giving Putin the cat birds seat in Europe.
indeed interesting. that border area in northern “Kosovo” is heavily Serb. If the Serbs try to “re-claim” that area of the border its going to put “Kosovo”, NATO and the UN in a tough spot
I think it just shows ALL of DC is out of control.
The state department has been free to disregard the US president to push cold war era policies which kept the USSR alive until ronald reagan.
Condi Rice has been deposed. (she is irrelevant that is why she was sent by her inferiors to the pointless middle east)
GWBush is being disregarded openly.
And why not? He constantly throws his supporters under the bus, disses the most courageous of the right, tolerates leftist conspiracies to spew treasonous disinformation publicly, can't fire or control ANYONE in any Executive bureaucracy.
But then, he's a Republican, so every thing's normal.
This time Russia will be ready and the NATO jets would very likely get shot down. Nobody was willing to go into harms way other than via bombing from orbit 9 years ago BEFORE the entire case against Serbia had been exposed as BS KKKlintonista propaganda and there’s no way in hell anybody in NATO is going into harms way for the benefit of “albanian kosovars” now. My advice to Putin and Kostunica would be to go for it. All Jorge and Kongaloser and their CFR paymasters could do about it is cry.
Heroes of mine! May God watch over them. Bozhje Pomazi
Mine too. In the eight-year reign of terror of the KKKlintler regime I only saw two groups of people ever try to stand up to the beast and face it down i.e. the Serbs and the Mormons in Utah, and you have to hope God will reward them for it. Again as I see it there’s absolutely nothing Jorge, Kongaloser, or anybody else could do about it if the Serbs were to push into Kosovo or at least northern Kosovo right now. There’s nothing I’d like better than to see Serb and/or Russian tanks roll into Kosovo a month prior to the Nov. elections.
Nice post!!!
Ping your list, molim
Well sailor, ya gotta take the good with the bad. Everything you said about boy George is true. Bud all these negative traits are more than made up for by his amusing oratory.
I am not going to cry for the UN here. They are the aggressors and they are wrong.
Serbia ought to move into Northern Kosovo in force this week. Within a couple of weeks, with Russia keeping their back covered, Kosovo could be theirs again and the Mohammedans driven into the mountains where others could "deal with" them in a more lasting and effective sort of way. Might even be worth finally dealing with the dog vomit Albanians in FYROM and the main hive on the Adriatic coast.
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