Eastern Kosovo: Over 20 people injured in clashes between Serbs and Kosovo police
More than 20 people, Serbs and members of the Kosovo police, have been injured, and five Serbs have been brought in for questioning after clashes near the Kosovo village of Donje Korminjane, on the Gnjilane-Bujanovac highway, close to the administrative limit with central Serbia.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, May 11, 2009
In the clashes, which broke out when the local Serbs, after several days of blackout, had tried to block the Gnjilane-Bujanovac highway, one police officer was seriously wounded and 19 more lightly wounded, Kosovo police spokesman Ismet Hasani said.
The protestors withdrew from the highway at 23.00 on Sunday, but a group of policemen remained on the spot to control the traffic.
During the protests, which spread over onto the neighbouring villages of Ranilug and Ropotovo, the police brought in five Serbs. Milan Jovanovic from Ranilug and Stojan Stankovic from Korminjane were heavily wounded on the occasion.
The Serbs rallied in protest around 16.00 on Sunday. The police tried to prevent the protesters from blocking the traffic on the Gnjilane-Bujanovac highway, which irritated the Serbs even more, and according to the police, they began to throw stones, bottles and other objects at them.
In the evening hours, the protest turned into clashes.
The police spokesperson in Gnjilane said that the members of the police had not used brutal force against the protestors, but Serb representatives claim that one of the protestors was hit by a rubber bullet.
The main reason why the Serbs gathered was to draw the attention of the broader public to the problem of electricity supply.
Namely, the Serbs from 14 villages of the Kosovo Pomoravlje District have been left without power supply for almost a month now. They refuse to pay their electricity bills and are waiting for Belgrade resolve their problem so that the distribution and payment of electricity bills be realized by the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EBS), and not by the Kosovo Electro-Energetic Corporation (KEK).
