Three lawmakers arrested in Kosovo in fresh tear gas protest

The opposition in Kosovo said Monday it would turn to street protests to get the government to cancel deals with Serbia and Montenegro after its lawmakers were barred from Parliament after they again broke up a session with tear gas.

Glauk Konjufca of the main opposition Self-Determination Movement Party on Monday said party members won’t allow sessions to be held until the government renounces a deal with Serbia giving more powers to ethnic-Serb communities in Kosovo and another with Montenegro on border demarcation.

Three MPs were arrested over the latest incident which sparked chaotic scenes in the chamber.

A Pristina court on Sunday ordered Kurti to be held for 30 days in a high-security prison after riot police detained him when they stormed the Vetevendosje party’s headquarters the previous day, clashing with its supporters.

It’s not the first time opposition MPs have resorted to tear gas to try and disrupt the assembly.

Opposition politicians have vowed they will not allow parliamentary sessions to go forward until the government overturns agreements with Serbia which give more power to ethnic Serbian groups in Kosovo and on the frontier with Montenegro.

Two of its lawmakers are under arrest and arrest warrants have been issued for two others.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Pristina later this week.

Local media and opposition parties said the parliament’s presidency had suspended all opposition MPs from the session, which continued later in the day without them. Police rushed out Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and other ministers.

The raid followed an opposition rally on Saturday against the Kosovo government’s recent EU-brokered agreements with Serbia and Montenegro. Kosovo in 2008 declared independence from Serbia, an act that Serbia still rejects.