Kosovo opposition launches tear gas over border deal

PRISTINA, Kosovo – An opposition lawmaker in Kosovo used tear gas on Tuesday to disrupt the work of a parliamentary commission on a border demarcation agreement with neighboring Montenegro — a protest seen on live television.

The opposition Self-Determination Movement Party confirmed that one of its members, Driton Caushi, was detained by police after he left the parliament building. Police did not immediately confirm that report.

The opposition says that Kosovo would lose over 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) because of the deal.

"The government's arrogance in insisting on ratifying the demarcation will be coped with (by) a powerful resistance. Kosovo has no land to donate!" says the Self-Determination Movement Party says on its Facebook page.

Last week's talks between the government and the opposition failed to reach a compromise on the issue.

The draft of the demarcation deal was approved Tuesday by the commission with support only from the governing majority members. Parliament is to vote on the proposed pact later this week.

The opposition has been disrupting parliamentary work since last September by using tear gas canisters, blowing whistles and throwing water bottles to protest the Montenegro deal and another one with Serbia that gives more powers to ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. Street rallies by opposition supporters routinely turn into violent clashes with police.

The opposition has threatened that "if the government does not withdraw, the situation will go out of control and the resistance will be harsher than ever."

In May, the European Commission recommended allowing Kosovans to travel throughout Europe's so-called Schengen zone without visas, but only after Kosovo fulfills certain conditions including ratifying the border agreement with Montenegro.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a declaration Serbia has not recognized.

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Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania contributed to this story.