- Title: SERBIA: Celebrations in Pristina ahead of Sunday's declaration of independence
- Date: 17th February 2008
- Summary: (W4) PRISTINA, KOSOVO, SERBIA (FEBRUARY 16, 2008) (REUTERS) CROWDS IN THE STREET MAN CLAPPING HANDS TOGETHER AND SCREAMING CROWDS LINING THE STREETS
- Embargoed: 3rd March 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Serbia
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVADT45XQNEQS2LZH7HCIG4CJZOK
- Story Text: Kosovars take to the streets to celebrate on the eve of independence.
Celebrations in Pristina were in full swing on Saturday (February 16), just hours before Kosovo declares itself independent from Serbia.
A large number of Kosovars took to the streets in full party mood.
Waving Albanian, American, French and British flags, revellers sounded car horns and let off fire crackers as excitement grew in the breakaway state's capital ahead of Sunday's (February 17) announcement.
Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has called for calm across the fledgling state, not wanting to ignite ethnic tensions between the majority Albanian and minority Serb populations.
Congregating outside the Grand Hotel in central Pristina, hundreds of Kosovar Albanians braved the cold winter night to show their enthusiasm for the split from Serbia.
The former head of the OSCE's Kosovo Verification mission, William Walker, who first reported the 1999 Racak massacre to the world, was in Pristina for the celebrations.
"I think its great, I feel great. How else would I feel on a night like this?," Walker said while walking through the revellers in downtown Pristina.
On January 16th, 1999, 44 Albanians were massacred by Serbs at Racak, an event that marked a turning point that led to Western military intervention and NATO bombing of Serbia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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