Brawls erupted in the Kosovo Parliament on July 13 after the Prime Minister Albin Kurti had water tipped over him by an opposition member.
At the time, Kurti was giving a speech about the situation in the North of Kosovo: a sensitive issue due to ongoing tensions with Serbia.
Mergim Lushtaku, a representative with the Democratic Party of Kosovo, obviously disliked what he was hearing and, approaching the PM, he suddenly soaked him.
Others present immediately stepped in but the situation soon descended into outright fist-fighting between Kosovo’s political elites – as the debate was being broadcast live. The President of the Assembly Glauk Konjufca was forced to call in the police over the ensuing melee.
Officers eventually succeeded in bringing the fighting to an end.
A big brawl at #Kosovo Assembly this morning. An opposition MP throws water at PM Kurti, and as ministers try to protect him everyone gets involved in fists and more. pic.twitter.com/0CtZArYZTP
— Xhemajl Rexha (@xhemajl_rexha) July 13, 2023
The brawl happened to take place at the same time Kosovo’s police force is reducing its presence in northern municipalities in the country, at government direction.
The north of Kosovo has seen an escalation in unrest after the government in Priština held local elections that stoked militant aggression. The ethnic majority of Serbs in the region boycotted those elections but the government nonetheless chose to recognise some winning mayors, despite them only having had the support of a small proportion of the local populations.
That led to the outbreak of serious rioting, forcing NATO to send in extra troops to restore peace.
On June 13, Kosovo agreed to European Union demands to de-escalate the tense stand-off, including the reduction of a heavy police presence there.
