 |  |  |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
| | |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia, Sept 10 (AFP) - More than 150 people have been injured in 24 hours of clashes on the bridge separating ethnic Albanians and Serbs in this northern Kosovo town, military and hospital sources said on Friday.
On Friday, 36 people were injured when a crowd of Kosovar Albanians clashed with French peacekeeping forces Friday on a bridge separating Serbs and Albanians in this northern Kosovo town. The previous day, 119 people were hurt, according to workers in a dispensary in the south of the town
Witnesses said many were hurt when French members of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force fired tear-gas and stun grenades -- the first time they have used such weapons -- in the latest in a rash of violent incidents.
Four explosions were heard on the Mitrovica bridge, which has now become a symbol of the hatred between the two communities, as around 300 Albanian Kosovars pelted the French with projectiles including cans, bottles and stones.
According to several witnesses, one protester was hit in the throat by a stun grenade fired to disperse the crowd as it tried to head for the Serb part of town. Stun grenades are designed to avoid death or serious injury,
French army and hospital sources said the injured numbered 28 Kosovar Albanians, four Serbs and four French soldiers.
"The French are against us, they are protecting the Serbs," said a leader of the demonstration, Visar Proja, just before the clash.
French officers said the ethnic Albanians had thrown two "home-made" grenades at the soldiers.
The officers said the French troops had used five or six tear-gas grenades and around 15 stun grenades against the mainly young crowd that was trying to take on both the French force and some 500 Serbs massed on the other side of the river.
The violence came a day after clashes between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians at the same bridge during which 35 Serbs were hurt, two seriously, as well as 27 Albanians, military sources said.
The official Yugoslav Tanjug news agency said Albanians had fired seven or eight mortar shells and thrown grenades during Thursday's violence.
In Vienna, meanwhile, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said "the overall situation remains tense" in Kosovo despite improved security conditions.
A joint report said minorities in Kosovo, from Serbs to Gypsies and Turks, suffered from a "lack of access to humanitarian assistance, medical facilities, education, pension, and employment."
This was "either the direct result of lack of freedom of movement brought about by the security situation or a consequence of real or perceived discrimination in the delivery of public services which are now predominantly, if not exclusively, Albanian-run"
Among incidents on the ground this past week, Russian peacekeepers killed three Serbs in the east of the province at Korminjane, northeast of Gnjilane, during clashes on Monday between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in which one Kosovar died.
Overnight Monday, a French soldier was shot in the leg and slightly wounded after discovering a man setting fire to a Serb Orthodox church at Vucitrn, 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of the Kosovo capital, Pristina.
On Wednesday, two Serbs were killed and four were injured, one critically, after shells were fired at the Serbian village of Donje Budriga, five kilometres (three miles) south of Gnjilane, in the US-patrolled sector.
On Saturday, an Albanian Kosovar was killed and a woman companion injured when their truck came under a rocket attack between Kosovska Mitrovica and Leposavic.
Tension in Kosovska Mitrovica has risen due to plans by the UN refugee agency to relocate 136 Kosovar Albanian families in the north of the town.
Both French and Russian KFOR troops are stationed in the town.
Clashes first broke out in mid-August when French peacekeepers prevented Kosovar Albanians, angered over atrocities committed against their community by Serbs before the arrival of KFOR, from crossing the bridge to seek revenge.
Since then, both sides have staged demonstrations almost daily.