Kosovo president condemns brawl that erupted in parliament

By Sharon Braithwaite and Josh Pennington, CNN

(CNN) — Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani condemned the brawl that erupted Thursday in Kosovo’s parliament between opposition and ruling party MPs, CNN’s affiliate N1 reported.

In a live video broadcast of the Kosovan parliament, Prime Minister Albin Kurti was interrupted by opposition MPs and had water thrown at him following some shoving and brawling between ruling Vetevendosje party and opposition MPs.

Kurti was speaking about easing tensions in northern Kosovo, which saw violent clashes in May when ethnic Serbs protested the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors.

There was a scuffle among the MPs who came to Kurti’s defense and those who came to the other side.

Glass was also heard breaking and the President of the Kosovo Assembly, Gljauk Konjufca, was also heard calling the police in the video.

The live broadcast from this session was then interrupted.

Osmani said in a Facebook such violence had “no place.”

“Using physical violence as a tool to address political discontent, differences or disagreements is the greatest harm that can be done to institutions that were built with so much can sacrifice,” she wrote, adding that “violence has no place in the temple of democracy and cannot become a political tool.”

“We must reaffirm our commitment to democracy, different thinking, as well as mutual respect, based on rule and law-abiding,” she said.

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama also condemned the brawl.

“Imagine how the irreplaceable allies and friends of Kosovo and the Albanians feel, when they see how Albanians grabbed each other by the throat instead of fighting with ideas and words, not insults and fists,” he said and called the opposition to distance itself from what he said was shameful behavior.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after a war in which Kosovan Albanians attempted to break from what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, made up of today’s Serbia and Montenegro. Serbia views Kosovo as a breakaway state and does not recognize its independence.

The bulk of Kosovo’s population is ethnically Albanian but in the restive north ethnic Serbs are the majority in some areas and have increasingly demanded greater autonomy.

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