Three opposition lawmakers were arrested in Kosovo on Monday amid chaotic scenes in parliament, filled once more with tear gas in a fresh protest against an accord with former master Serbia.
Opposition MPs have been disrupting the work of parliament for two months by releasing tear gas in the chamber each time it tries to sit.
They are demanding the government revoke a deal, brokered by the European Union, to grant minority Serbs greater local powers and the possibility of funding from Belgrade. They also oppose a border demarcation deal with Montenegro.
Opposition supporters have rioted several times on the streets of the capital, Pristina, heightening the sense of a young country in crisis almost eight years since it declared independence from Serbia.
US secretary of state John Kerry is due to visit Kosovo on Wednesday in a gesture of support for its development as an independent state, 16 years after a U.S.-led Nato air war to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces.
On Monday, opposition lawmakers twice released tear gas in the chamber. Police rushed out Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and other ministers.
Local media and opposition parties said the parliament’s presidency had suspended all opposition MPs from Monday’s session, which continued later in the day without them.
“We will protest inside the parliament and outside in the streets,” Glauk Konjufca of the opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party told Reuters.
“One of the options is also early elections; let them verify whether the Kosovo people support them”.
On Friday, masked police armed with rifles arrested Vetevendosje’s founder, lawmaker Albin Kurti, on charges of releasing tear gas in parliament. So far five MPs have been detained and arrest warrants have been issued for two more. – Reuters