Kosovo showdown ends in battle with Serbs

UN forces were attacked as they forced Serb demonstrators from an occupied court today sparking a running battle as they faced rocks, grenades and bullets.

Police and Nato troops responded with tear gas, stun grenades and gunfire. At least 45 UN and Nato forces and 70 protesters were injured in the worst violence in Kosovo since its majority ethnic Albanians declared independence from Serbia a month ago.

Nato and the UN issued a joint statement condemning “lethal violence, including direct fire by a mob” in the Serb-controlled part of the town of Kosovska Mitrovica.

About 100 UN policemen and Nato troops arrested 53 Serbs who had occupied the courthouse in Mitrovica since Friday. The group had seized the building to protest against Kosovo’s declaration of independence, which the territory’s Serb minority fiercely opposed.

Since the declaration, Serb protesters have been trying to take control of local institutions that have been run by the UN since the end of the war in Kosovo in 1999. Crowds have gathered daily at the court in Mitrovica to prevent international and ethnic Albanian judges from returning to work there.

After the court battle hundreds of UN police pulled out of the Serb-controlled northern part of the city apparently coming under small arms fire by Serbs. Nato troops remained in the Serb part of the town, which is divided between rival Kosovo Serbs and Albanians, to try to restore order.

At least one UN vehicle and one Nato truck were set on fire.

Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN mission in Kosovo, said the UN staff in Mitrovica “have been ordered to relocate” to the regional headquarters in the southern part of the town.

He confirmed that the Nato force, known as KFOR, would take control of the Serb sector in northern Mitrovica.

Among the international forces wounded were 27 Polish officers, 15 Ukrainians and three French.

Danish military police arriving to evacuate the wounded came under fire, but none was injured.

At least 70 Serb demonstrators, including one struck in the eye by a bullet, were also injured, hospital officials said.

“Most of the civilians suffered injuries from shock bombs, tear gas and explosive devices,” said Vladimir Adzic, the head of a nearby hospital.

In Mitrovica, Serbia’s government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, described the action by UN police as “brutal and inadmissible.”

In Belgrade, Serbian President Boris Tadic accused the international forces in Kosovo of “using excessive force,” and warned of “escalation of clashes in the entire territory” of Kosovo.

Mr Tadic urged the UN and Nato to refrain from using force and called on the Serbs not to provoke the international forces. He urged Kosovo Serb leaders to do all they can to restore calm.

Kosovo’s deputy prime minister defended the peacekeepers’ action, demanding that they do not end their operation.

“We have requested from the first day that UN and KFOR establish the rule of law in north Mitrovica and to protect institutions there. It was a just action and the right one,” Hajredin Kuqi said. “There can be no compromise when it comes to the rule of law.”