Kosovo Cracks Down on Protesters Ahead of Rally

As Kosovo opposition parties look ahead to a major rally on Friday against the government's agreements with Serbia and Montenegro, the police are conducting a country-wide campaign of arrests in relation to the violent protests of recent weeks.

Around 20 people have been arrested so far, according to the police, while arrest warrants have been issued for a dozen more. Most of those arrested have been placed in 30 days' detention awaiting trial.

November 18 saw some of the most violent clashes in months between opposition activists and riot police, involving stones, teargas, Molotov cocktails and acts of vandalism on public property, following the detention of the opposition MP Donika Kadaj-Bujupi.

Kadaj-Bujupi, from the opposition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, was arrested on Wednesday for setting off tear gas in parliament.

The opposition blames widespread police brutality that same night for the escalation of events.

"I was trying to calm them down but one of them [the police] hit me on the head... Some of them were really rude," Vetevendosje [Self-determination] MP Fisnik Ismali told BIRN in the aftermath of Wednesday protests.

The police told BIRN that they did not use unjustified violence against protesters, but that "some violent protesters exerted excessive violence against the police".

BIRN shot several photos that appear to show riot police charging with batons at civilians who were trying to escape.

It is still unclear whether persons unrelated to the protests were subjected to attacks and arrests, however.

Vetevendosje on Monday denounced the arrests as a provocation that aimed to "sabotage the grand and peaceful rally on November 28".

Three opposition parties, Vetevendosje, the AAK,...