Vetëvendosje

Opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination Movement) party activists seized and overturned a second Serbian truck this month in protest against Belgrade’s policies on Kosovo.

Opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination Movement) party activists overturned the truck in protest at Belgrade’s refusal to distribute Kosovo schoolbooks that Pristina donated to ethnic Albanian pupils in Serbia.

Hashim Thaci has been elected as Kosovo's president after 71 of the country's 120 MPs voted in favour of his nomination. Ten ballots were deemed invalid.

The alternative candidate, Rafet Rama, also from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, received no votes.

Opposition MPs in Kosovo again let off tear gas in parliament on Wednesday during a meeting of the Steering Committee, which met to decide the date to elect a new president.

The speaker, Kadri Veseli announced that the vote would take place on Friday, with Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci as the main candidate for the post.

Opposition activists and politicians set up tents in the square opposite the government building in Pristina on the night before parliament - interrupted last Friday by tear gas three times - was due to resume work on Wednesday.

At dusk, some 30 tents, including almost ten with a capacity of 10 to 40 people, were set up in the city's Skanderbeg Square.

Kosovo's parliament on Friday is due to hold its first session in 2016 after meeting for the last time two months ago, on December 17.

Tens of thousands of protesters filled Skanderbeg Square in Pristina on Wednesday, on Kosovo's independence day, asking for two controversial agreements with Serbia and Montenegro to be scrapped and for the government to resign.

Opposition parties have announced a major protest for Wednesday as state institutions plan a series of celebratory events marking eight years of Kosovo's independence.

A day ahead of a major anti-government rally, Kosovo arrested a number of opposition officials from the Vetevendosje [Self-Determination] Movement on Tuesday, in relation to offences dating back to 2009.

Four opposition MPs were to face trial for setting off tear gas in the Kosovo parliament but the hearing was postponed because Vetevendosje party leader Albin Kurti did not appear.