Police clashed with demonstrators outside Kosovo’s parliament on Monday, as protesters demanded the passage of a bill that would curb the powers of the country’s war crimes court.
The hours-long stand-off escalated on Monday night as demonstrators decried the sentencing of Kosovo’s former president, Hashim Thaci, who was last month sentenced to war crimes committed during the 1990s war for independence against Serbia.
Several hundred protesters spent most of the day outside parliament, pledging to blockade the building until lawmakers passed a law aimed at curbing the court’s powers. Bins were also set alight near the parliament as projectiles were thrown at officers who responded with a water cannon and armoured vehicles. It will now face parliamentary review before it can return to parliament for a second reading.
The proposal would also allow convicts to serve their terms in Kosovo, limit sentences to 15 years and clear the way for presidential pardons.
Speaking to parliament, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said his government supported the initial reading but said the proposed law was “hasty” and not properly “thought through”. Even if passed, the law would not affect the current sentences for Thaci and the other men, who have already said they will appeal through the established process at the KSC.
