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코소보 수도 프리슈티나에서 9일(현지시간) 대규모 반정부 시위대가 정부청사에 화염병을 던져 방화를 시도하는 등 폭력 시위를 벌여 경찰과 충돌을 빚었다.
AFP 통신 등에 따르면 시위대는 코소보 정부가 세르비아와 체결한 협약과 몬테네그로와의 국경선 합의에 항의하며 정권 퇴진을 촉구했다.
코소보에서는 지난해 9월부터 세르비아, 몬테네그로와 협상에 반대하는 시위가 이어졌으며 야당 의원들은 수차례 의회 본회의장에서 최루탄을 터뜨리며 관련 법안 저지를 시도했다.
야당과 시위대는 코소보 내 소수민족인 세르비아계 주민의 자치권을 강화하면 코소보 내 세르비아의 영향력이 커진다며 반발했다.
야권 지도자인 파트미르 리마지는 이날 정부청사 앞에서 “주권을 거래한 이들이 정부를 운영해서는 안된다”며 “정부는 권한을 잃었기 때문에 우리는 즉각 자유선거를 촉구한다”고 말했다.
시위대 일부는 야권 지도자들이 이런 발언을 하는 도중 청사에 화염병과 돌을 던져 청사 일부에 불이 났으며 유리창들도 깨졌다. 경찰은 즉각 불을 껐으며 시위대에 최루가스 등을 쏘며 진압에 나섰다.
코소보는 1998~99년 세르비아에서 분리독립하려는 내전을 벌였다가 유엔과 북대서양조약기구(나토)군의 개입으로 내전을 끝냈고, 2008년 분리독립을 선언했으나 세르비아는 독립을 인정하지 않고 있다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
Large anti-government protest in Kosovo turns violent
Thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets in Kosovo's capital Saturday, with police firing tear gas as some protesters threw Molotov cocktails and set fire to a government building.
The rally was the latest in a long-running protest against deals reached by the government with Serbia -- the country from which Kosovo seceded in 2008 -- and a border demarcation agreement with Montenegro.
The protesters, who numbered around 10,000, called for the government to resign because it had failed to withdraw from the controversial agreements, particularly a deal to set up an association of Serb-run municipalities for Kosovo's Serb minority.
Those opposing the deal believe it will deepen the ethnic divide and increase Serbian influence in Kosovo, whose 1.8 million-strong population is mostly ethnic Albanian and Muslim.
“We will not be governed by those who trade our sovereignty. We are seeking free elections to be organised immediately, because they no longer have the right to govern Kosovo,” said Fatmir Limaj, the leader of the political party Initiative for Kosovo.
While opposition leaders made speeches near the seat of government in Pristina, some protesters threw Molotov cocktails and stones over a line of special forces deployed around the building.
Several windows were broken and the corner of a building was set alight, leading police to respond with tear gas, said an AFP journalist at the scene.
Police spokesman Baki Kelani later told reporters that 10 police officers, two citizens and two journalists were injured in the clashes, and 24 protesters were arrested.
Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's independence and the dialogue between them, brokered by the European Union, is designed to improve relations between the two sides that fought a war in 1998 and 1999.
Opposition lawmakers have paralysed the functioning of parliament in Pristina since mid-September, disrupting sessions by releasing tear gas, in a bid to get the agreements with Serbia overturned. (AFP)
