PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) — Hundreds of Serb riot police turned back Albanian students trying to enter the main university Thursday — despite an earlier agreement allowing their return after nearly 10 years. News of the killing of three Serbs by Albanian militants added to tensions.
Thursday’s standoff between the ethnic Albanians and Serb police in the southern Yugoslav province lasted about 30 minutes before the students dispersed.
The students were turned away despite a Serb-Albanian agreement last month to permit Albanians to return to university premises they have boycotted for nearly a decade to protest Serbian rule.
The clash came amid news of the death of three Serbs in the province, including a policeman killed Wednesday by a mortar shell in a police station on the Pristina-Prizren road. Serb police blamed Kosovo separatists.
On Thursday, the bodies of two Serbs believed to have been kidnapped by Albanian militants a week ago were found on a road near the western village of Decani, Serb officials said.
Earlier Thursday in Pristina, thousands of Serbs staged a protest against incentives and penalties — including a freeze on Yugoslav and Serbian assets abroad — adopted Wednesday by the group of nations monitoring Yugoslavia to stop the crackdown in Kosovo.
About 150 people have been killed in Kosovo since Feb. 28, when Serb police cracked down on the province in their search for militant separatists. Most have been ethnic Albanians, killed either by the Serb-led Yugoslav army or Serb police.