KOSOVO-OPPOSITION/TEAR GAS Kosovo lawmakers in new tear gas protest over Serbia accord

Record ID: 136101

  • Title: KOSOVO-OPPOSITION/TEAR GAS Kosovo lawmakers in new tear gas protest over Serbia accord
  • Date: 15th October 2015
  • Summary: PRISTINA, KOSOVO (OCTOBER 15, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** OPPOSITION MPS GATHERED AT PARLIAMENT SPEAKERS SEAT MPS GATHERED / MPS TALKING TO PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, KADRI VESELI TEAR GAS IN THE OPPOSITION SIDE OF THE ROOM OPPOSITION THROWING ANOTHER TEAR GAS CANISTER OPPOSITION MP KICKING THE GAS CANISTER TO SPREAD THE TEAR GAS PARLIAMENT ROOM FILLE
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kosovo
  • Country: Kosovo
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAQUCDH2ZSSVIM00AYK12TZAN6
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Opposition lawmakers released tear gas in Kosovo's parliament on Thursday (October 15), the second such incident in a week in protest of a European Union-brokered accord with Serbia.
    The opposition is angry over a deal to grant ethnic Serb areas of Kosovo greater local powers and the possibility of funding from Belgrade. It says the proposal represents a threat to the independence Kosovo declared from Serbia with Western backing in 2008.
    A bloc of opposition parties says it will disrupt the work of parliament until the deal, and another demarcation of Kosovo's border with Montenegro, are rescinded.
    On Monday (October 12), police fought running battles with stone-throwing protesters demanding the release of a prominent opposition figure who had also set off tear gas in parliament days earlier.
    Albin Kurti was released by police hours after being detained.
    Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 1999 after 11 weeks of NATO bombing to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians by Serbian forces trying to crush a two-year guerrilla insurgency.
    After almost a decade as a ward of the United Nations, the majority-Albanian territory declared independence in 2008 and has been recognised by more than 100 countries. However this does not include Serbia or its big-power ally Russia.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register