KOSOVO ALBANIANS, SERBS STAGE PROTEST RALLIES

PRISTINA, Sept 8 (Hina) - Several hundred Albanians from Kosovska Mitrovica on Wednesday staged a rally in front of the UN Civil Mission headquarters in Pristina, protesting against the division of their town and asking that they be enabled to return to their homes in the Serb-controlled northern part of the town. UN administrator Bernard Kouchner addressed the protesters promising that Kosovska Mitrovica would not be divided and that he would soon visit the town. For the ninth day now Serbs in Gracanica near Pristina have been blocking the road Pristina-Gnjilane, protesting against the reported kidnapping of a local Serb. Serbs in Kosovo Polje today staged a rally protesting against the Kosovo Force (KFOR) and demanding the release of all Serbs captured by the KFOR under suspicion of war crimes against Kosovo Albanians. KFOR members wounded two Serbs when the protesters stopped two vehicles and started abusing Albanians who were driving them. Serbs in the village of Livadja near Pristina set up a check point on a local road and started controlling passengers, but were removed by the Finish KFOR. Albanians in Orahovac have continued their 19-day-long blockade of a road leading to Orahovac, trying to prevent the deployment of Russian KFOR members in the town. (hina) rml