K. MITROVICA: PULIZIA ETNICA DEMOCRATICA

["glr" <glr_y@iol.it>]

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Date sent:      	Tue, 15 Aug 2000 10:28:41 +0200
From:           	Coordinamento Romano per la Jugoslavia <crj@sigmasrl.it>
Send reply to:  	crj <crj@sigmasrl.it>
To:             	crj <crj@sigmasrl.it>
Subject:        	Ciliegina numero 186

PULIZIA ETNICA DEMOCRATICA:
	"AVETE TANTI MODI DIVERSI PER TOGLIERVI DAI PIEDI!"


L'amministratore statunitense di Kosovska Mitrovica William Nash
ha dichiarato di essere "piuttosto ansioso di rapportarsi con quelli che
sono interessati alla democrazia, e quelli che non sono interessati alla
democrazia possono andarsene da qualche altra parte. Possono lasciare il
Kosovo in tanti modi diversi."


> 
> Serbs turn on British troops 
> Soldiers hurt as UN forces seize 'dirty' factory
>
> Special report: Serbia
> Nicholas Wood in Mitrovice
> Tuesday August 15, 2000
> The Guardian
>
> Four British soldiers were injured in violent clashes in the Kosovan
> town of Mitrovice yesterday, as the UN launched an operation to reassert
> its authority in the province. 
> Three soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, suffered head
> injuries and were taken back to their base in Pristina. Another suffered
> a hand injury. Six Serbs were also injured in the clashes outside a
> factory complex in the predominantly Serbnorth of the town. 
> The operation saw 900 troops from Britain, Denmark and France take
> control of the lead smelting plant which the UN said was polluting the
> local environment. 
> The violence erupted as workers arriving to start their shifts at the
> Serb-run complex gathered outside an entrance. British troops manning
> checkpoints nearby were attacked by up to 500 people angry at the
> operation. 
> Rubber bullets were fired and the crowd was charged by the Fusiliers
> with batons as the soldiers came under a hail of stones. The British
> troops were ultimately ordered to withdraw and were replaced by French
> troops. 
> It is only the second time this year that British soldiers have been
> deployed in Mitrovice. A spokesman for the French army, Henry Aussavy,
> put the violence down to local hostility. "It seems that the Serbs do
> not like the English," he said. Britain is hated for its prominent role
> in Nato's bombing of Kosovo last year. 
> UN officials said that the takeover was prompted by an increase in lead
> emissions from the factory, which began to work full-time in June. They
> that said that air samples indicated pollution levels 200 times above
> World Health Organisation standards. 
> But the American UN administrator of Mitrovice, William L Nash, said
> that the takeover was part of a much broader security operation. He
> admitted that the UN was going to change the structure of local
> municipal boards in the region over the next few days. 
> Sources inside the UN said that members of Slobodan Milosevic's ruling
> Serbian Socialist party (SPS) were expected to be removed from their
> posts. Local Serb leaders have accused the party of attempting to
> undermine their authority in the region. 
> Mr Nash said that the UN wanted to see a change in the political balance
> of local authorities. "We are quite anxious to deal with those people
> who are interested in democracy, and those that are not interested in
> democracy can go elsewhere. They can leave Kosovo in a variety of ways." 
> Doctors from the local hospital in northern Mitrovice dismissed claims
> that the smelter was causing pollution. Doctor Radosav Jankovic said:
> "We haven't had a patient with a toxicology problem for years. Today
> only soldiers and Unmik [UN Mission in Kosovo] police officers suffer
> problems of lead in the blood." ...



 --------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
                 RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU 
    e-mail: crj@sigmasrl.it - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
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