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Police Disperse Ethnic Albanian Protesters in Kosovo


United Nations and Kosovo police used tear gas Saturday to disperse some 2,000 ethnic Albanian protesters in the Serbian province.

Police used armored vehicles to seal off the main road in the capital Pristina and prevent protesters from approaching U.N. headquarters.

Activists staged the protest Saturday to demand independence for the province without further negotiations.

Last week, chief U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented his proposal for Kosovo's future which grants internationally-supervised statehood for the Serbian province, which Belgrade rejects.

Representatives of Serbia and Kosovo are expected to discuss the U.N.-mediated proposal for the future status of the province on February 21 in Vienna.

The province has been under U.N. administration since 1999, after NATO air raids halted Belgrade's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Some ethnic Albanian groups also object to the plan's provision for European Union supervision of the province's government. Many also protest the proposed broad self-governance for Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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