Tear gas and petrol bombs disrupt Kosovo presidential vote

By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Lawmakers threw tear gas cannisters in Kosovo's parliament and protesters outside threw petrol bombs at the building to try to stop the election of a president they say has given too much power to the ethnic-Serb minority. Opposition parties want parliament to suspend the vote, which may make Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci president, protesting that he helped broker an agreement with Serbia on more local autonomy for Kosovo's Serbs. Four hours into Friday's session, led by Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), opposition lawmakers threw three tear gas canisters in the chamber, prompting the speaker, Kadri Veseli, to eject 11 MPs. An hour later tear gas was being thrown again but the second of three votes went ahead despite a delay. Veseli warned that a failure to elect the president would force a dissolution of parliament and snap elections within 45 days, two years ahead of schedule. Opposition parties have been protesting for four months against the EU-brokered deal with Serbia and have staged street protests, repeatedly thrown tear gas in parliament, clashed with police and last month set a government building on fire. Police in full riot gear backed by armoured vehicles used tear gas and water cannons to disperse several hundred demonstrators. There were no reports of casualties. Protesters shouted, "Hashim, Hashim we want you in jail!" and "Hashim, the traitor!" Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after NATO air strikes drove out Serbian security forces accused of killing and expelling ethnic Albanian civilians during a counter-insurgency war. Many Kosovo Albanians believe last year's accord with Serbia could erode that hard-won sovereignty, though its status is unclear after a Kosovo constitutional court ruling in December that parts of it breach the country's laws. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Louise Ireland)