Police arrest 91 in protest at UN Kosovo hq

PRISTINA, Serbia, June 9 (Reuters) Riot police on Friday scuffled with ethnic Albanian demonstrators blocking the entrance to the UN headquarters in Kosovo, arresting 91.

Police moved in first at 3:30 a m 0700 hrs Ist and again in mid-morning to clear the road of about 150 demonstrators demanding the UN mission end seven years of governing Serbia's southern province and give the Albanian majority independence.

Protesters erected tents at the entrance to the compound.

Protest leader Albin Kurti, a high-profile activist and former political prisoner, said: ''The police used violence. They stole our tents.'' He was later arrested.

Kurti's protests, and the often heavy-handed reaction of police, have won him support among the 90-per cent Albanian majority in Kosovo impatient for independence. UN officials view his growing popularity with concern.

Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians opened direct talks in February in Vienna, with the mediation of former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, the UN's special envoy.

Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku condemned the protest.

''Let's work together and stop the kind of scenes that can only harm efforts to resolve Kosovo's status,'' he said.

Western powers want a deal within the year, which diplomats say will probably override Serbian opposition and give Kosovo independence.

Legally part of Serbia, the province of 2 million people has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign drove out Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing of Albanians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

NATO has 17,000 soldiers based in the province, alongside 2,000 UN police officers.

REUTERS SHR BST1913