OVER 130,000 KOSOVO ALBANIANS HOLD 30-MINUTE PEACEFUL PROTEST

( Editorial: --> 0828 ) PRISTINA, March 19 (Hina) - Kosovo Albanians turned up en masse at peaceful demonstrations staged by the Independent Union of Albanian Students in Pristina on Thursday. Over 130,000 people spent half an hour silently standing in streets and squares until the stroke of twelve, when everybody started shaking housekeys and tooting car horns for five minutes. These five minutes of commotion were meant to draw attention to the expiry of the Contact Group deadline for special police forces to withdraw from the Drenica area, where at least 80 Albanians have been killed in the past three weeks. Protesters waved Albanian and American flags, as well as the flags of the European Union and Contact Group countries. According to the first reports that reached the organisers, the protests ended without incident. (hina) mm as/mrb 191431 MET mar 98