Amid Blizzard, Albanians in Kosovo Rally

Thousands of ethnic Albanians marched in a blizzard through this provincial capital of the autonomous province of Kosovo on Sunday in defiance of government orders to end a wave of ethnic unrest and street demonstrations.

Sunday’s protests, the fourth straight day of unrest since the forced resignation of two ethnic Albanian leaders, started when about 500 chanting students braved the snow to march on the headquarters of Kosovo’s Communist Party.

The crowd swelled to about 4,000 within two hours, roaming city streets and gathering outside a student canteen and party headquarters. Security forces ordered students to disperse and also turned them away from a sports hall where about 15,000 people had rallied Saturday.

Thousands of other ethnic Albanians people demonstrated Saturday to protest Thursday’s resignations of Azem Vlasi and Kacusa Jasari, members of Kosovo’s 13-member ruling Politburo.

Roads Blocked Off

Police blocked roads into Pristina late Saturday to prevent more protesters from joining the boisterous crowds.

The province’s acting Communist Party head, Remzi Koljgeci, tried to defuse the tension by announcing Saturday night that the resignations might be reviewed and reversed.

But he also warned that “extraordinary measures of security” could be introduced if demonstrations continued.

“In the past three days, we went through a situation which we could not control,” he said in a television interview Sunday morning.

Slobodan Milosevic, the Communist Party chief of the republic of Serbia, applied what Vlasi called “terrific political pressures” to force his and Jasari’s resignations as part of Milosevic’s campaign for more control over Kosovo.

The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Kosovo are ethnic Albanians. The minority Serbs alleged they are being harassed by the Albanians.