By Many Sources 18 March 2004
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Hundreds of protesters broke through a police cordon shortly after midnight tonight and began smashing windows on a mosque in central Belgrade.
After a protracted clash with police they managed to enter the courtyard of the mosque.
B92 has learnt unofficially that there a large number of people injured in the clash.
Police began to withdraw after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the mosque building.
Serbian Orthodox Archbishop Amfilohije is in front of the mosque attempting to calm the protesters down.
Police Minister Dragan Jocic has appealed to Belgraders to refrain from violence in protests against the ethnic clashes in Kosovo.
Mosque set alight in central Nis | 00:23 | Beta
NIS -- Wednesday - A mosque in the southern Serbian city of Nis has been set on fire as thousands of local Serbs protest against ethnic violence in Kosovo.
The blaze erupted at the mosque immediately after demonstrations in the city 's central square.
Protesters have gathered around the mosque watching it burn and shouting anti-Albanian slogans as locals photograph one another against the blazing mosque.
Fire fighters have arrived at the scene but taken no action.
Meanwhile, in Belgrade, protesters have clashed with police who have blocked attempts to march on a mosque in the central city.
No Serbs involved in drowning: UNMIK | 01:58 | Beta
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - UNMIK spokesman Derek Chappell said tonight that the survivor of yesterday's Ibar River drowning has told his parents that he and three friends entered the river alone and were immediately caught up in the heavy current.
The boy managed to reach the opposite bank of the river, but his three companions were swept away.
The incident happened at about 4.30 p.m. and police began a search of the river about an hour and a half later. Two bodies have been found so far.
Today's violent incidents around Kosovo were sparked after claims that the boys had been chased into the river by Serbs with a dog.
Chappell told media in Pristina tonight that this was definitely not true according to the account of the surviving boy.
Violence coordinated and planned: UNMIK | 02:42 | Beta
VIENNA -- Wednesday - The violence in Kosovo today has obviously been planned in advance, UNMIK spokesman Derek Chappell told Austrian state television ORF this evening.
In a report broadcast at midnight, Chappell described the situation as chaotic. "There has been violence in Kosovo before, but this time it's coordinated action. The violence erupted in a number of places at the same time which shows that it was planned in advance," he said.
Speaking on the same program, KFOR spokesman Stefan Racenberger said that years of failing to resolve the status of Kosovo had increased tension in the province.
"Since the Albanians have been facing uncertainty over Kosovo's status for quite a while now, and are nervous and tense, the case of the Albanian children led to this escalation. It all began in Mitrovica and the violence soon spread throughout Kosovo," he said.
Racenberger emphasised that the conflict is continuing and that tens of thousands of Albanians are on the roads heading towards Pristina. No one knows, he said, what will happen when the mob reaches the city.
Conflicts spreading throughout Kosovo | 01:43 | B92
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - US marines have succeeded in forcing thousands of Albanians back from the town of Caglavica after several earlier failed attempts by other KFOR troops.
Meanwhile, the Albanian mob, which descended from Pristina early on Wednesday, has set fire to two more houses in the town, together with a number of KFOR vehicles on the highway between Caglavica and Pristina.
The town's Serb residents were evacuated early this evening.
The Archdiocese of Raska and Prizren has reported mortar rounds fired on the Visoki Decani monastery at about 10.30 p.m.
The monastery is at present being guarded by Italian KFOR troops and special US troops are expected to arrive soon.
UN administrators flee "Kristallnacht" | 23:46 | B92
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - UN administrators have abandoned offices in the Kosovo towns of Gnjilane, Prizren and Pec, fleeing what one UNMIK official described to B92 as "Kristallnacht".
"Kristallnacht is under way in Kosovo," the official told B92 on condition of anonymity.
"What is happening in Kosovo must unfortunately be described as a pogrom against Serbs: churches are on fire and people are being attacked for no other reason than their ethnic background," he added.
Serbs and UN officers have been the target of attacks by Kosovo Albanians during most of the day and night. The most dramatic withdrawal was from Belo Polje on the outskirts of Pec, where UNMIK officials, retreating with Serb residents, where forced to shoot Albanian assailants in self-defence.
The Serbian Orthodox seminary in Pec has been razed, and Albanians celebrated its destruction by setting fire to the local church., said the UN official.
Journalists evacuated from UNMIK building | 23:50 | B92
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - Journalists have been evacuated from the UNMIK police headquarters in Pristina after the international mission received information that about two thousand Albanians were marching towards the building.
B92's Pristina correspondent, Zoran Culafic, reports that Pristina is gripped by uncertainty as both political leaders and international police admit that the situation is beyond their control.
Belgrade to demand urgent Security Council sitting | 19:43 -> 20:31 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Vojislav Kostunica said today that Belgrade would demand an urgent sitting of the UN Security Council to discuss today's clashes in Kosovo.
Only "some kind of territorial autonomy" for Serbs in the province could secure their safety, said the prime minister, adding that the way the province is administered at present had "failed the test".
Three members of the federal government attended today's emergency sitting of the Serbian Cabinet to discuss the conflicts now tearing across Kosovo.
Defence Minister Boris Tadic, Foreign Affairs Minister Goran Svilanovic and Minority Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic attended the meeting, together with army representatives and the head of the Kosovo Coordination Centre, Nebojsa Covic.
Kostunica told journalists after the meeting that the chief of staff of the Serbia-Montenegro Army would be in constant contact with the commander of international peacekeepers in Kosovo and that initial discussions had already been held.
Other security measures would be put in place at tomorrow's meeting of the Supreme Defence Council, said the prime minister, adding that the state's security forces were prepared for any kind of cooperation with international forces in Kosovo which was aimed at establishing peace in the province.
He emphasised that reports of Serbian security forces massing on the Kosovo border were not true.
"Our public knows that the federal state and Serbia have no direct access to Kosovo and thus no real opportunity to directly defend the besieged population and their property.
"But let the people be assured that the government will do everything in its power to protect them," added the prime minister.
Rugova calls for peace | 20:42 | Beta
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova today called for peace in the province, warning that the escalation of violence in Mitrovica and other towns in the province could bring no good to anyone.
At a press conference in Pristina this evening, he also criticised the new Serbian government, warning that it risked destabilising Kosovo.
After offering condolences to the families of three Albanian boys who drowned in the Ibar River last night and the families of people who died in today's clashes in Mitrovica, Rugova called on Serbs in Caglavica to dismantle their blockade of the Pristina-Skopje highway.
He also called on Albanians to withdraw from conflict areas.
The Kosovo president also used the occasion to call for the dismantling of parallel institutions established by the Serb community in Kosovo and for the disarming of the northern, Serbian zone of Mitrovica.
Rugova also dismissed a proposal by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica for Serb cantons to be established in Kosovo, saying that the province could not be divided on an ethnic basis.
The Kosovo Government is meeting in an extraordinary sitting tonight.
Tadic to meet Contact Group ambassadors | 21:37 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Federal Defence Minister Boris Tadic is this evening meeting ambassadors of the Contact Group countries to discuss the wave of violence engulfing Kosovo.
Tadic told Belgrade's BK Television that Serbian and federal bodies were engaged on a number of diplomatic fronts, warning that there was a danger of violence spiralling out of control in the province.
There were currently no indications of Albanian terrorists approaching the Serbian border, he said, adding however that the Defence Ministry had stepped up security measures in the buffer zone to protect federal troops and the municipalities of southern Serbia.
Warning of the danger of a media war worsening the situation, Tadic described as "incomprehensible" reports by the US network CNN which described the Albanian attacks as logical.
The network also reported that Kosovo's borders have been sealed to prevent Serbs from Serbia proper "coming to support their brothers in Kosovo".
"We must carry out a significant foreign political counter-offensive," said Tadic.
"It is very important for our citizens to understand that we must act rationally, that any escalation from our side is out of the question, but on the other hand we have to offer absolutely every assistance we can to our population in Kosovo," he added.
The defence minister said that his ministry had information that Albanian terrorists were being trained in camps in Kosovo.
"We have warned all the international institutions, KFOR and UNMIK, but there's been no adequate response from them.
"We have adequate information of movements of certain paramilitary troops from various parts of Kosovo and Albania towards Kosovska Mitrovica. Some of these were armed and were stopped by the authorities in charge in Kosovo, but the question remains of whether all of them have been intercepted," said Tadic.
Svilanovic calls Contact Group ambassadors | 18:33 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Federal Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic has called an urgent meeting with ambassadors of Security Council permanent member countries and Contact Group countries.
According to a statement from the Ministry, UN representatives in Belgrade have also been invited.
Svilanovic is to brief the ambassadors on today's joint sitting of the Serbian Parliament's security and Kosovo committees as well as the emergency meeting of the Serbian cabinet.
He will demand an urgent response from the UN Security Council to put an end to the violent clashes across Kosovo.
Parliament committees demands protection for Serbs | 18:23 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - The Serbian Parliament's committees for security and Kosovo have demanded that the cabinet do everything possible to protect Kosovo Serbs and step up international lobbying over the province.
The chairman of the Kosovo Committee, Dusan Prorokovic told media that the measures demanded included raising the level of combat alert on the administrative border with the province.
The commander of Serbia's special police forces, Goran Radosavljevic, said that combat alert had already been raised to the maximum level, adding that there is at present no danger of terrorist activities overflowing from the province into Serbia proper.
Emergency talks in Belgrade | 15:34 | SRNA
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - The Kosovo and Security committees of the Serbian parliament are to hold an emergency joint session in light of today's clashes between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo.
Interior Minister Dragan Jocic will report on the latest developments in Kosovska Mitrovica, where five people are reported dead.
The chairman of the security board told SRNA news agency that the United Nations authorities must bear full responsibility for the clashes.
Kostunica demands action from Holkeri | 18:52 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica today demanded that UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri use international troops in Kosovo to stop violence against the Serb community in the province.
Kostunica told Holkeri that the most important task of the international forces in Kosovo is establish peace and order.
Kostunica has also met federal President Svetozar Marovic to discuss what further steps are necessary to bring an end to the violence sweeping Serbia' s southern province.
Belgrade urges calm in Kosovo | 13:43 | SRNA
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - The authorities in Belgrade have urged calm in Kosovska Mitrovica, after clashes broke out between Serbs and Albanians in the ethnically-divided town.
Nebojsa Covic, the head of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo, urged UN police and NATO-led peacekeepers to keep the two sides apart.
He expressed regret for the deaths of two Albanian children who drowned in the Ibar River last night. Tensions flared in the town after reports the children had been chased by Serb youths.
Holkeri appeals for calm | 18:10 | B92
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - Kosovo's UN governor Harri Holkeri has appealed to citizens to stay calm despite the worsening situation as the province explodes in ethnic clashes.
"The responsibility for the current situation lies with all citizens of Kosovo," said Holkeri, warning that there should be no presumptions made that the drive-by shooting of eighteen-year-old Serb medical student Jovica Ivic on Monday night was ethnically motivated.
Such acts serve neither the Serb nor Albanian community, he said, adding that they must be condemned because they only damage the reputation of Kosovo.
"We, as representatives of the international community are trying to ensure that the lives of everyone in Kosovo are calm. What is happening today is no way to make progress in Kosovo," said the governor.
UN governor condemns Kosovo shooting | 12:20 -> 12:39 | FoNet
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - The UN governor in Kosovo has condemned the near-fatal shooting of a Serb teenager near the capital Pristina.
Harri Holkeri cautioned against assuming that the shooting of Jovica Ivic on Monday evening was ethnically-motivated, said a statement from the United Nations mission (UNMIK). Holkeri urged improved cooperation between the police and local communities in order for the perpetrators to be found.
The UN governor expressed understanding for "the frustration and fear" of the people, but said he could not condone the actions of those near the village of Caglavica who blocked roads and set a car on fire.
Military law imposed in Mitrovica | 18:17 | B92
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - The UN administration in Kosovo has imposed a curfew in Kosovska Mitrovica, warning that anyone found on the streets after 7.00 p.m. will be arrested.
"We have established control over the bridges in Mitrovica; the situation in the northern part seems to be calming down, but there are still problems in the southern part where there are large groups of Albanians," UNMIK spokesman Derek Chappell told B92.
Chappell admitted that UNMIK police had lost control over the escalating clashes throughout the province.
"In addition to Mitrovica, the other very serious case at the moment is Caglavica, where there are clashes. We are not in control of the situation there," he said.
"It will be dangerous if the situation has not calmed down before dark because it will be very difficult to control it during the night. This is a terrible day and I am very sad at what is happening. All our efforts to establish a normal situation in Kosovo have been dispersed in just one day," said Chappell.
Mitrovica calm, troops holding bridge | 17:40 | Beta
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Wednesday - The situation in Kosovska Mitrovica this afternoon is calm, but tense, with heavy UNMIK and KFOR forces controlling the bridge which divides the Serbian and Albanian zones of the segregated town.
Streets on both sides of the Ibar River are deserted but no gunfire has been heard since 2.00 p.m.
Sources in the Northern Mitrovica hospital say that Serbs Borivoje Spasojevic and Jana Tucev have died from shots fired from the southern part of the town, while surgeons are attempting to save the life of a third victim, Nenad Trifunovic.
International agencies are reporting that four Albanians and three Serbs have been killed in today's violent conflict, while UNMIK spokesman Derek Chappell has told media that five people are dead and ten UNMIK police wounded.
Hospital sources in the southern part of the town say that 84 Albanians have been injured while sources in the Serb hospital in the town's north say that 22 Serbs have been injured, five of them seriously.
Five reported killed in Kosovo clashes | 14:36 | AP
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Wednesday - Five people were reported killed and dozens of others were wounded Wednesday, as Serbs and ethnic Albanians clashed and peacekeepers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to keep them apart.
Hospital personnel on the Serb and ethnic Albanian sides of divided Kosovska Mitrovica said two ethnic Albanians had died, apparently of gunshot wounds, and three Serbs also were shot to death.
After heavy bursts of gunfire, dozens on both sides were hospitalized, said medical personnel.
At least three reported killed in Kosovo clashes | 13:56 | AP
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Wednesday - At least three people were reported killed and dozens of others were wounded Wednesday, as Serbs and ethnic Albanians clashed and peacekeepers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to keep them apart.
Hospital personnel on the Serb and ethnic Albanian sides of divided Kosovska Mitrovica said two ethnic Albanians had died, apparently of gunshot wounds, and a Serb woman also was shot to death.
After heavy bursts of gunfire, dozens on both sides were hospitalized, said medical personnel.
Employees on the southern side, dominated by ethnic Albanians, counted 42 hurt, among them several who were shot. Xhelal Ibrahimi, an ethnic Albanian witness, said gunfire came from the Serb-dominated part of the town, and he saw several people falling in front of him.
On the Serb side, hospital personnel said 22 Serbs were injured, among them five seriously, including a man shot in the head and one in the lungs. Others were hit by stones, rubber bullets fired by the peacekeepers or shrapnel from their stun grenades.
Ambulances transporting the wounded lined up near the hospital in the southern part of town dominated by ethnic Albanians. Those with more serious injuries were taken to Pristina's hospital. Dozens of armored vehicles streamed toward town, as North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led peacekeepers beefed up security.
Serbs and Albanians trade gunfire in northern Kosovo | 13:38 | B92, SRNA, Beta, Reuters, AP
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Wednesday - Serbs and Albanians have traded gunfire across the river dividing the town of Mitrovica in Kosovo, reportedly killing a Serb woman.
Reuters and Associated Press report automatic gunfire coming from both sides of the Ibar River. United Nations police have fired teargas and rubber bullets to control an Albanian crowd on the south side of the bridge.
Tensions flared after two Albanian boys drowned in the river last night, reportedly having been chased by Serb youths.
B92's correspondent says that a Serb woman was killed in the exchange of fire as she stood on her balcony. At least 50 Serbs are reported to have been injured, Beta reports.
In its latest report, SRNA news agency says that Albanians in the southern half of the town are trying to cross another bridge to the north, after special UN police units blocked access across the main bridge.
Clashes in Kosovo after children found drowned | 12:00 -> 12:14 | Beta, Reuters
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Wednesday - Clashes have been reported in Kosovska Mitrovica between international peacekeepers and ethnic Albanians trying to enter the predominantly Serb half of the ethnically-divided town in northern Kosovo.
Beta news agency reported that several thousand Kosovo Albanians tried to cross the bridge over the Ibar River shortly after 11.00 this morning. International KFOR troops used tear gas to drive them back, said the agency.
The incident comes after local police recovered two bodies from the river several hours after a group of Albanian boys went missing, reportedly after being chased by Serb youths.
"We found two bodies, one last night and one this morning and we are still looking for one child who is missing," said Tracy Becker, spokeswoman for United Nations police in Mitrovica.
Kosovo Albanian television last night quoted a fourth boy as saying he and his friends were chased by Serb children with a dog and had jumped into the Ibar to escape.
He said he swam with his little brother on his back but the boy slipped off and went under. The television report said the missing boys were aged eight, 11 and 12.
UN police confirm two children drowned, third missing | 14:08 | Beta
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Wednesday - The bodies of two ethnic Albanian boys have been found in the Ibar River, not far from Kosovska Mitrovica, UN police have confirmed.
Police spokesman Derek Chappell said a search was continuing for a third boy reported missing.
Chappell said he was shocked at certain Albanian media reports on how the children died, some of which have said they died after being chased by Serb youths.
An investigation is underway into how the children came to be in the river, he told Beta news agency.
The two boys were aged nine and 12.
News of the deaths has prompted fierce clashes in Mitrovica between Serbs and Albanians.
US troops enter Caglavica | 21:24 | Beta
CAGLAVICA -- Wednesday - Thirty armoured vehicles carrying US KFOR troops have arrived in Caglavica from the direction of Urosevac, where the US military base, Camp Bondsteel is located.
A number of UNMIK vehicles are burning beside the access road to the village on Veternik Hill.
International security forces are reported to be attempting to pull out soldiers and policemen injured in clashes with Albanian gangs from Pristina.
About ten Serb houses are burning after being set alight earlier during the day's clashes.
Caglavica has about a thousand Serb residents.
Serbs wounded in Caglavica clash | 17:57 -> 20:17 | Beta
CAGLAVICA -- Wednesday - At least ten Serbs have been wounded in the village of Caglavica by sniper fire from a hilltop near Pristina. They have been transferred to hospital in Gracanica.
Most Serb women and children from the village have been evacuated to the neighbouring settlement of Laplje Selo.
Clashes continue between Albanians and international forces at the entrance to the village, which is completely obscured by smoke from Serb houses set on fire by the angry mob of Albanians from Pristina. Gunfire and explosions can be heard through the smoke.
The conflict in Caglavica began soon after 1.00 p.m. today when thousands of Albanians from nearby Pristina charged the village.
Serbs have been blocking the Pristina-Skopje road since last night in protest at the drive-by shooting of eighteen-year-old medical student Jovica Ivic on Monday evening.
Serbs, international troops forced to retreat | 17:49 | Beta
CAGLAVICA -- Wednesday - International troops and Serb citizens in the strife-torn town of Caglavica are fighting a losing battle to maintain their territory, being forced back towards the Serb part of the village.
Stun bombs and tear gas deployed by KFOR troops and UNMIK police have had little effect on the thousands of Albanian who have arrived from Pristina to storm the town.
Two Serbs have been reported wounded by sniper fire near the village, which houses about a thousand Serb residents.
Dozens of women and children have gathered in the centre of the village preparing to evacuate, as about ten Serb houses near the village entrance have been set on fire.
For now there seems little hope of international peacekeepers arriving to evacuate. Them.
Serb houses on fire in Caglavica, reports Beta | 15:29 | Beta
CAGLAVICA -- Wednesday - A crowd of ethnic Albanians has set light to two Serb houses in the village of Caglavica, near the Kosovo capital Pristina, Beta news agency reports.
Beta's correspondent reports clashes between Albanians and members of the international peacekeeping force (KFOR).
The situation is said to be clam but tense.
Serbs in the village have been blocking the main road in protest at the shooting of a teenage boy on Monday evening.
Clashes outside Pristina | 14:33 | SRNA
CAGLAVICA -- Wednesday - Serbs and Albanians clashed today in the village of Caglavica, not far from Pristina, where local Serbs have been protesting the near-fatal shooting of a teenage boy on Monday evening.
International peacekeeper used tear gas and fired shots into the air to drive back a crowd from some 1,000 ethnic Albanians who had broken through a cordon on the Pristina-Skopje road.
Reports say a grenade was thrown at a Serb house.
Kosovo Serbs continue protest in wake of shooting | 11:37 | B92
CAGLAVICA -- Wednesday - Serbs in central Kosovo are continuing to block two main roads in the province in protest at the near-fatal shooting of a Serb teenager on Monday evening.
The Serbs, from the villages of Caglavica and Gracanica, say the roadblocks will stay until the international police and peacekeeping troops track down those responsible. Eighteen-year-old Jovica Ivic was hit three times in the drive-by shooting near Caglavica. He was transferred to the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica, where his position is said to be stable.
A protest rally has been announced for midday in Caglavica.
Dragan Velic, a member of the regional "crisis staff", said the Serbs were demanding reinforced KFOR patrols in Serb villages around the capital Pristina and for checkpoints to be restored.
The department of education and sport in Gracanica has decided to suspend all classes in schools from March 23, Velic told B92.
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