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Assembly meeting interrupted by tear gas in Kosovo

Xinhua, October 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

A member of the Kosovo Assembly collapsed on Thursday as a consequence of the tear gas used by the opposition block to interrupt the plenary meeting.

The MP from the majority Flora Brovina fell unconscious shortly after the opposition MPs threw tear gas inside the assembly hall, after they failed to stop the session only with whistle blowing. Emergency teams were called to provide medical assistance to the injured MP.

"This is simply a violence, and let people judge itself," told the press the chairman of the majority parliamentary group LDK, Ismet Beqiri.

The 120-seated Assembly of Kosovo is paralyzed since the autumn session started in September by the opposition block of Albanians, although they count only one fourth of the total number of the MPs. They have been obstructing the plenary sessions by standing in front of the stage of the assembly hall and by preventing any MP from the majority to speak.

The protest of the opposition is against two agreements that Kosovo government signed in August this year in Brussels.

One agreement was reached during the EU-facilitated dialogue with Serbia, in which Pristina and Belgrade agreed to establish the Association of Serb-dominated municipalities in Kosovo. The other agreement was reached with Montenegro on border demarcation between the two countries.

The opposition rejects both agreements, considering them damaging to Kosovo, and wants prime minister either to reject his signature or to resign.

The majority wanted the assembly to resume works Thursday, but the opposition continued its interrupting approach by whistle blowing. When the majority started the session despite the noise, some MPs from the opposition started to throw water to their colleagues from the majority, and finally used tear gas to interrupt the session.

Serbia categorically refuses to recognize Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, though most leading European countries and the United States have exchanged diplomats with Kosovo. Enditem