UN police in Kosovo fired teargas to disperse ethnic Albanian protesters lobbing stones at the UN headquarters on Tuesday, angry at a delay to their demand for independence from Serbia.
Thousands of protesters demonstrating against UN-led efforts to decide the fate of the breakaway province smashed windows and threw red paint on the Kosovo parliament and government building during a march through the capital. A Reuters reporter said they dispersed after UN riot police fired teargas from inside the UN compound.
It was the first violence targeting the UN mission and Kosovo's leadership since a decision this month by major world powers to delay a decision on the Albanian majority's demand for independence until next year.
The United Nations, which has run Kosovo since Nato bombs drove out Serb forces in 1999, reported "credible threats" against its personnel and property in Kosovo on Monday. It said it was stepping up security but did not link the warning to Tuesday's scheduled protest.
The West had promised a decision on Kosovo's final status this year, but opted to delay until after a general election in Serbia on January 21 in order to aid pro-Western parties. Diplomats say Kosovo will probably win some form of independence, supervised by the European Union, but the timeframe and path to statehood remain unclear.
Protest leader Albin Kurti, a former political prisoner in Serbia, promised more protests in the capital. "Pristina is the centre and source of all the bad things that are happening to Kosovo," he told the crowd. "We are 99 percent, and they are only 1 percent, sitting in their offices," he said of Kosovo's political leaders. Kurti's followers say Kosovo should have the right to vote for its independence, rather than negotiate with Serbia.
Negotiations began in February, but have produced little sign of compromise. UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari is due to present his proposal on "final status" after the Serbian election, but a new UN resolution could be months in coming.
Serbia lost control of Kosovo in 1999, when Nato intervened to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serb forces in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas. Some 10,000 Albanians died and 800,000 fled, and there are few signs of reconciliation with the remaining 100,000 Serbs.
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