SERBIA: Police arrested activists from Kosovo's Self Determination Movement/ Police investigation underway into actions of police during protest on February 10th after two people died in clashes

Police arrest activists from the Self Determination movement. The police spokesman says a police investigation is underway into the actions of the police during the protest on Saturday after two people died in clashes. Police arrested activists from Kosovo's Self Determination Movement on Sunday (February 11), the organisers of a protest march on Saturday (February 10) during which two protesters were wounded in clashes with police and later died. The clashes erupted during the march between police and Albanians protesting a U.N. plan they say falls short of full independence from Serbia. "We refused to allow them to search our premises without that warrant. We were barricaded for some twenty minutes inside the office. During that time they arrested three of our activists outside and then left," Xhelal Zevqla, a leader of the Self Determination movement said. A police spokesman confirmed a police investigation into the actions of the police during Saturday's march is underway. "Police commissioner invited the police inspectors of Kosovo to hold an investigation, their own neutral investigation that will conclude how the behaviour of Kosovo police and other police -- how it was," Veton Elshani, the Police Spokesman, said At least two other protesters were in serious condition after Saturday's clashes in which U.N. and Kosovo police used tear gas and rubber bullets against Albanians trying to break through barricades around the parliament in Pristina. The violence underscored Western fears of mass unrest if a decision on the Albanian majority's demand for a Kosovo state does not come soon. Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku met opposition leaders on Sunday and issued a statement condemning the protests, which had brought 3,000 people onto the streets of the capital before turning violent. They called on "all Kosovo citizens to contribute to the stability of the country, as they have done so far." A U.N. plan unveiled this month by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari would, if adopted by the U.N. Security Council, set Kosovo on the path to statehood, eight years after NATO bombs drove out Serb forces and the United Nations took control. Kosovo Albanian leaders have accepted the plan, which provides for a powerful European overseer and self-government and protections for the 100,000 Serbs. But some among the 90-percent Albanian majority complain it will prolong Kosovo's limbo status and leave Serbia with a permanent foothold.

ITN Source | February 12, 2007

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