Kosovo’s parliamentarians, locked in a war of words, clashed in a brief brawl on Thursday during a heated debate over measures to de-escalate tensions in Serb enclaves in the country’s north.
The dispute broke out when the Prime Minister Albin Kurti he made his way to Parliament and was doused with water by a rival MP. This sparked a brief but chaotic brawl, with legislators pushing and punching each other. The incident caused no injuries.
The Kosovo Parliament is no stranger to these types of heated debates. During his years in opposition, Kurti was famous for launching tear gas canisters during parliamentary sessions, forcing lawmakers to don gas masks as toxic smoke filled the chamber.
Thursday’s standoff comes as Kurti vows to defuse tensions in northern Kosovo, where pressure has been mounting since his government decided to install ethnic Albanian mayors in four Serb-majority municipalities last May.
This decision triggered one of the worst episodes in the history of tensions in the north of the country for years, with demonstrations, the arrest of three Kosovar policemen by Serbia and a violent riot by Serb protesters that left Injured more than 30 NATO peacekeepers.