Clashes Erupt as Thousands Protest in Kosovo

Stone-throwing protesters attacked the government building on Saturday and a fire broke out on central Mother Theresa Square amid clashes with police who fired tear gas as anger flared at one of the largest protests in Kosovo since it declared independence in 2008.

Some 7,000 protesters, according to police estimates, were demanding the sacking of Minister for Communities and Returns Aleksandar Jablanovic, who is accused of insulting Albanians who blockaded Serb pilgrims at Orthodox Christmas.

"We will give Prime Minister Isa Mustafa time until 6 pm on Monday to remove Minister Jablanovic from his post. If not, we will protest again on Tuesday at noon," said Albin Kurti, the head of the nationalist Vetevendosje (Self Determination) opposition party, which organised the protest alongside the Mother's Call NGO.

The rally was a culmination of a wave of protests all over Kosovo for the past two weeks for the removal of Jablanovic, a Serb minister in the Kosovo government who sparked anger when he described Albanian protesters who picketed and threw ice at Serb pilgrims visiting a church in Gjakova/Djakovica at Orthodox Christmas on January 6 as "savages".

"Jablanovic offended us. The entire world knows what happened in Kosovo, Jablanovic doesn't know even though he was born here," one protester, Safete Pula from Gjakova/Djakovica, told BIRN.

Gjakova/Djakovica was the scene of heavy fighting and many deaths during the conflict between Yugoslav forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army. Jablanovic has since apologised for his statement, claiming he was unaware of what had happened in there during the war.

As well as the sacking of Jablanovic, protesters were calling for the Trepca mine complex, the subject of dispute between Pristina and...