[ALBSA-Info] Kosovo police station attacked in Mitrovica

[Iris Pilika]

Kosovo police station attacked

Fighting has flared in Mitrovica since 1999
March 14, 2001
Web posted at: 1113 GMT


MITROVICA, Yugoslavia -- A crowd of Serbs has attacked a police station in 
the Kosovo town of Mitrovica, a United Nations official said.

"This is a riot situation. They are behaving very aggressively. Two people 
are injured and one police car is burning," Dmitry Kaportsev, spokesman for 
UN police in Kosovo, said.

He said the riot broke out after police detained two people suspected of 
assaulting two U.N. police officers 10 days ago in the Serb-dominated 
northern part of the city.

A U.N. police officer and a soldier with the multi-national peacekeeping 
force were injured in the assault. Eleven members of the 150-strong crowd 
were slightly injured by stun grenades fired by the peacekeepers, the 
hospital said.

Serbs blocked all roads leading into the area. Peacekeepers closed several 
bridges, which serve as an ethnic dividing line between Serbs and Albanians, 
Kaportsev said.

A Serb leader in Mitrovica, Oliver Ivanovic, criticised the timing of the 
arrests, noting negotiations were under way to increase freedom of movement 
in the divided town.

He said he would ask for a delay in talks scheduled for Thursday.

Mitrovica, divided into Serb and Albanian-dominated sections by a river, is 
a regular flashpoint in Kosovo.

Reuters contributed to this report.



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