PRISTINA--Some 300 people, including relatives of ethnic Albanian Kosovo rebels killed in clashes with Macedonian police this month, rallied in Pristina Wednesday calling for the return of their loved ones dead or alive.
The protesters, also including veterans from the 1998-1999 conflict between Kosovo and Serbia, gathered in front of the government building carrying banners that read "Our Boys are Liberators" and "Long-live Liberators."
"We call on the government to urgently resolve the fate of our war comrades and make sure they are brought here dead or alive," said one of the protesters, Mimoza Shal.
Clashes in the northern Macedonia town of Kumanovo between police and ethnic Albanian gunmen, many of whom were from neighbouring Kosovo, left 18 people dead, including eight police officers, earlier this month.
Skopje labelled the gunmen "terrorists" and claimed they were planning to attack Macedonia's state institutions. Police arrested 30 alleged gunmen of ethnic Albanian origin, including 18 from Kosovo, and charged them with terrorism.
On Wednesday in Pristina, Ylber Ndrecaj said that his brother Mirsad, who was killed in the Kumanovo incident, went to neighbouring Macedonia "to fight for his ideals".
Sevdije Sheheku, whose brother Deme was among those arrested, said the protestors demanded that he and others "be freed as soon as possible."
The violence in Kumanovo marked the worst unrest in the former Yugoslav republic since its 2001 conflict between the government and ethnic Albanian rebels, raising fears of fresh ethnic unrest.
Ethnic Albanians make up around one quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million population.
Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians make 90 percent of its 1.8 million people, unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008.
AFP
