Fire in the Hole! Kosovo MP Fills Kosovo Parliament With Smoke

Two MPs were reported to have fainted after the canisters were thrown in the Assembly Hall, Pristina, allegedly by opposition MP Albin Kurti after the session had already descended into chaos with whistles blown and in footage from teh chamber politicians can be seen standing at the front of the hall.

Opposition MPs in Kosovo have let off tear gas in the national parliament chamber in a noisy protest over a government deal with Serbia.

In a video of the incident, the smoke bomb is casually kicked around the well of the parliament as bemused MPs look on.

There was no immediate confirmation from police of what actual device was used – Self-Determination described it as a “gas canister”.

Kurti is a former student leader who protested against Serbian rule in the 1990s.

A government statement later said the opposition’s “violent behavior” had “exceeded all bounds of institutional and democratic behavior”.

Serbia rejects Kosovo’s 2008 secession.

The opposition, which mounted the demonstration on Thursday, wants the government to backtrack from the deal, saying it endangers Kosovo’s territorial integrity.

In a deal brokered by the European Union in August, Kosovo agreed to give more financial and legislative rights to its minority Serb community via an Association of Serb Municipalities.

The governing coalition, in turn, accused the opposition of attempting to come to power through unconstitutional means.

Opposition parties see the move as a threat to the majority and believe it could deepen the ethnic divide in Kosovo.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation went to war with 78 days of air strikes in 1999 to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians in Kosovo by Serbian forces trying to crush a two-year guerrilla insurgency.