YUGOSLAVIA: CLASHES BETWEEN KOSOVO ALBANIAN PROTESTERS AND FRENCH PEACEKEEPING FORCE CONTINUE
Record ID:
566243
YUGOSLAVIA: CLASHES BETWEEN KOSOVO ALBANIAN PROTESTERS AND FRENCH PEACEKEEPING FORCE CONTINUE
- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: CLASHES BETWEEN KOSOVO ALBANIAN PROTESTERS AND FRENCH PEACEKEEPING FORCE CONTINUE
- Date: 3rd February 2001
- Summary: MITROVICA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA (FEBRUARY 1, 2001)(REUTERS) 1. SLV CROWDS GATHERED ON MAIN BRIDGE DIVIDING ETHNIC ALBANIAN AND SERB AREAS OF MITROVICA; MV THREE ITALIAN ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIERS (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SCU LOCAL ETHNIC ALBANIAN PRESENTING FLOWERS TO ITALIAN KFOR SOLDIER, SAYING I WANT TO GIVE YOU THIS FLOWER BECAUSE WE ARE NOT AGAINST NATO, NOT AGAINST YOU, WE ARE AGAINST THE FRENCH; ITALIAN KFOR SOLDIER TAKES THE FLOWERS/ITALIAN KFOR SOLDIERS SMILING AT THE FLOWERS; SLV ITALIAN KFOR TROOPS STANDING BY BRIDGE (4 SHOTS) 0.45 3. SLV ETHNIC ALBANIANS, MOSTLY YOUNG, THROWING STONES AT FRENCH KFOR TROOPS; ETHNIC ALBANIANS USING SLINGSHOTS TO HURL ROCKS AT FRENCH KFOR; LAS FRENCH KFOR SOLDIERS ON ROOF OF NEARBY BUILDING; SLV STONE THROWING AT LINE OF SOLDIERS WITH RIOT SHIELDS; SLV MORE STONE THROWING (6 SHOWS) 1.18 4. SLV KFOR SOLDIERS PATROLLING STREETS (2 SHOTS) 1.28 5. SLV TEAR GAS CLOUDS; SLV KFOR SOLDIERS WITH RIOT SHIELDS; SLV STONE THROWING; MV FRENCH KFOR SOLDIERS SURGING FORWARD TO CHARGE AT PROTESTERS / FRENCH KFOR SOLDIERS FIRING PERCUSSION GRENADES/ PROTESTERS DISPERSING (7 SHOTS) 2.07 6. SLV JOINT PATROL OF FRENCH AND BRITISH TROOP, PATROLLING STREETS (9 SHOTS) 3.00 7. SLV/MV UNMIK POLICE WITH ETHNIC PROTESTERS TWO HUNDRED METRES FROM THE BRIDGE (3 SHOTS) 3.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th February 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MITROVICA, KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA2PPOKV3LPKYM738FJGAUAA222
- Story Text: After a quiet and uneasy start to the day, there have
been further clashes between stone-throwing Kosovo Albanian
protesters and French peacekeepers in the flashpoint town of
Mitrovica.
The uneasy calm in the Kosovo city of Mitrovica on
Thursday (February 1) did not last more than a few hours
before further violent confrontations broke out between ethnic
Albanians and French KFOR peacekeeping troops.
The ethnic Albanian protesters had gathered at the
southern end of the main bridge over the Ibar River, which
divides Mitrovica into Albanian and Serb-dominated sections.
One man gave flowers to an Italian KFOR peacekeeper and told
him that the Albanians had no quarrel with Italian KFOR
peacekeepers or NATO, but that it was the French KFOR
peacekeepers the ethnic Albanians did not like.
The protesters were told to leave by the Italian
peacekeepers so they marched to another bridge and threw some
rocks at a checkpoint of French soldiers from the NATO-led
KFOR multi-national peacekeeping force.
The soldiers responded by firing percussion grenades, also
known as stun grenades, which make a booming sound intended to
scatter crowds in panic.
Members of the crowd ran away but remained in the area and
the situation developed into a stand-off with the soldiers.
Ethnic Albanians have staged daily protests since fighting
between Serbs and Albanians in Serb-dominated northern
Mitrovica on Monday (January 29) in which a 15-year-old
Albanian boy was killed by a grenade.
Since the clashes KFOR has sent in German, British and
Italian peacekeepers to the city to reinforce the French
peacekeepers. Joint French-British KFOR patrols could be seen
in the city on Thursday .
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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