Kosovo clashes force UN pullout

Kosovo clashes force UN pullout
UN police in Kosovo have been forced to withdraw from the Serb stronghold in northern Mitrovica after riots in which more than 100 people were injured. About 70 Serb civilians were wounded as well as 63 members of the UN police and at least 20 troops serving with the Nato-led K-For force.
Troops and UN police faced a hail of gunfire, stones and hand grenades.
The clashes began after the UN tried to wrest control of a courthouse seized by the Serbs last week.
It is the worst unrest since Kosovo's independence declaration last month, which Serbia says is illegal.
It also coincides with the fourth anniversary of rioting in Mitrovica by Kosovo Albanians which drove some 4,000 people, mainly Serbs, from their homes, and left at
least 19 people dead, according to UN figures.
K-For has taken over security in the divided town, where Serbs are concentrated on the northern side of the river.
Polish police commander Andrzej Matejuk said 27 of the injured UN police were Poles, but their lives were not in danger. Fourteen Ukrainians with the UN police
were also wounded.
The French military said 20 French K-For soldiers were injured, eight seriously.
The violence began after about 100 UN police arrested 53 Serbs occupying a UN court in the north of the city.
Scores of protesters blocked the police vehicles as they tried to leave and rocks and petrol bombs were thrown, according to Kosovo police.
Almost half of those arrested were set free during the violence. UN and Nato vehicles were set alight.
As the situation escalated, UN police were ordered to withdraw, leaving K-For troops to control the situation.
K-For troops are now in control of the court building, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Mitrovica. He describes northern Mitrovica as calm but tense.
'Excessive force'
Speaking in Brussels, Nato spokesman James Appathurai said troops would "respond firmly to ensure a safe and secure environment".
When we were coming out of the compound, the van I was in was stopped by Serbs who trashed it and freed us Dragoljub Drazevic Serb protester
"The rioters who have used Molotov cocktails, grenades and possible automatic weapons fire have gravely violated the law," he added.
The European Commission voiced its full support for the efforts of the UN administration and K-For to maintain order, saying violence was unacceptable.
Serbian President Boris Tadic accused the international forces in Kosovo of using "excessive force" and warned of "an escalation of unrest on all the territory of the
province".
Rallies
Many of the protesters who seized the court last week are said to be former staff who lost their jobs in 1999 at the end of the war in Kosovo, when it came under
UN administration.
Serbs had staged rallies outside the building for several weeks, preventing ethnic Albanian court employees from crossing the bridge over the Ibar River that divides
Mitrovica into a Serb-run north and an Albanian south.
Tension in the region has risen sharply since Kosovo declared independence.
Last week, Serbs tried to take control of a railway line in northern Kosovo.
In February, some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers were suspended for refusing to take orders from the Kosovo Albanian authorities in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
Most EU states and the US have recognised Pristina's unilateral declaration of independence.
Serbia - backed by its ally Russia - says the move is illegal.