Serb Police Beat Protesters at Rally in Kosovo’s Capital

Serbian forces pressed their campaign against separatist rebels Sunday in the Kosovo countryside, while police swinging clubs beat protesters at an independence rally in this provincial capital.

At least six ethnic Albanians were injured when more than 100 police officers broke up the demonstration in Pristina, which had largely escaped the violence that has convulsed the secessionist province of Serbia in recent months.

Meanwhile, Serbian forces reportedly continued shelling suspected militant positions in western Kosovo as part of a stepped-up campaign that has left at least 50 people dead and 200 missing since late May, according to ethnic Albanian officials.

The violence has sent thousands of refugees fleeing ruined villages, some to neighboring nations, and has aroused alarm among Western powers that a war is in the making that could spread to other Balkan states.

Ethnic Albanians constitute 90% of the 2.2 million inhabitants of Kosovo, and most demand to secede from Serbia, which along with Montenegro makes up the rump Yugoslavia. The Western powers oppose any change of borders but want the Serbs to cease their offensive and give Kosovo the autonomy taken away by Serbia in 1989.

President Clinton spoke to British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday, and they agreed to send a “strong message” that the Serbian offensive is unacceptable, a Blair aide said.

The U.S. and others plan deliberations this week on what steps to take, including the possibility of military intervention.

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The relative peace in Pristina was shattered Sunday when police charged about 1,000 protesters gathered for the 57th consecutive daily rally against the Serbs’ violent rule in Kosovo.

One protester could be seen bleeding after he was hit in the head by a police officer’s gun butt and then kicked repeatedly.

Government-controlled television in Tirana, the capital of Albania, reported that Serbs shelled at least two Kosovo villages Sunday. It also said that ethnic Albanian militants blew up police headquarters in Ratkoc and that amid fierce fighting, all the Serbian residents and police had fled.

At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II called on the world Sunday to act against repression in Kosovo.