The leader of the opposition Self-Determination party, apparently triggered the devices – which have also been identified as smoke canisters – in parliament and kicked them around the chamber to spread the smoke. Kurti is opposed to an European Union brokered deal that would restore links between the two countries.
Advertisement
Two female MP’s were taken by ambulance to hospital, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
“No one has the mandate nor the right to bring Serbia back into Kosovo”, an opposition bloc of which Kurti is part said in a statement.
Kosovo opposition MPs threw tear gas canisters in Parliament on Thursday to protest the latest EU-brokered agreements between Kosovo and Serbia.
The government later released a statement saying the opposition’s “violent behaviour” had “exceeded all bounds of institutional and democratic behaviour”.
Ramush Haradinaj, head of the opposition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), warned of “even bigger actions than throwing tear gas…in the assembly chamber”.
The issue is particularly contentious because Serbia continues to refuse to recognise Kosovo since it declared independence in 2008.
The new deal – to establish an “Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities” – endangers Kosovo’s territorial integrity, opposition MPs argue.
Prime minister Isa Mustafa escaped untouched when eggs were thrown on a street earlier this week.
But ethnic Albanians – who make up the majority of Kosovo’s population – have bitterly rejected the agreements with former ruler Belgrade.
“(We are) blocking parliamentary life in Kosovo to reject what the government signed and we ask the government to withdraw its signature from the recent agreements with Serbia, especially this about the establishment of the Serbian association of municipalities”, he said.
Advertisement
Kosovo and Serbia were at war in 1998-1999, which ended after Serbian armed forces withdrew from the territory following an 11-week North Atlantic Treaty Organisation bombing campaign.
