Tear gas enveloped the parliament in Kosovo Monday, amid ongoing protests by opposition MPs.
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Government lawmakers met alone in the afternoon after their earlier session was disrupted by the opposition, which has pledged that no sessions will take place until the government renounces a deal with Serbia giving more powers to ethnic-Serb communities in Kosovo and another with Montenegro on border demarcation.
Opposition politicians have vowed they will not allow parliamentary sessions to go forward until the government overturns agreements with Serbia which give more power to ethnic Serbian groups in Kosovo and on the frontier with Montenegro.
The latest incident, condemned as a “violent obstruction” by the European Union’s office in Kosovo, comes ahead of the first visit to Pristina by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday.
In dramatic scenes inside parliament, opposition MPs were today blocked from entering the building after launching tear gas into the debating chamber.
The Constitutional Court has suspended the deal with Serbia until it rules on whether it breaches the constitution while the government also has said it will ask for worldwide expertise for the border demarcation with Montenegro.
A chaotic situation continued at the Parliament building Monday afternoon.
Police reported they had arrested an opposition lawmaker after finding two tear gas canisters with him.
“We will protest inside the parliament and outside in the streets”, Glauk Konjufca of the opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party told again Monday. Police rushed out Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and other ministers.
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MP Albin Kurti, accused of setting of tear gas in parliament, was remanded in custody for 30 days after being arrested following an anti-government protest.
