KOSOVO: MITROVICA: PROTESTORS CLASH WITH K-FOR TROOPS

(10 Sep 1999) Natural Sound

Hundreds of ethnic Albanian and Serbian rioters showered French and Italian peacekeepers with stones and bottles on Friday in a second day of clashes at a bridge dividing the northwestern city of Mitrovica into Serb and Albanian enclaves.

French troops responded with tear gas and percussion grenades to try to disperse the crowd, which hurled stones and bottles repeatedly for nearly two hours until the Albanian protestors dispersed.

Several people were injured but there was no official casualty count.

Italian riot police eventually managed to separate the crowd from the French soldiers positioned on the bridge, which was covered with broken glass and other debris.

The violence erupted one day after a melee Thursday between hundreds of Serbs and Albanians, which drew in French peacekeepers and Italian police who tried to separate them.

Fifteen police and soldiers were slightly injured, some by an exploding grenade and the rest by stones hurled by both sides.

Several ethnic Albanian residents of Kosovska Mitrovica, who spoke on the phone on condition of anonymity, said one Albanian, whom they identified by name, was shot to death.

Split into Serb and Albanian sections, the mining town of Kosovska Mitrovica is divided by the Ibar River.

Hundreds of ethnic Albanians have demonstrated sporadically over the past two months, demanding the right to return to their homes in the Serb sector.

French peacekeepers in the region have prevented most from doing so, fearing bloodshed.

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