Wednesday, 22 February 2012Kosovo opposition movement Vetevendosje, led by Albin Kurti, is growing in influence through a two-part strategy of negotiating in parliament, and by leading street protests against the policies of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's government.
"We should be active not only inside the system, but also in the public sphere, in society, wherever the people are," Kurti told SETimes.
But the protests have the potential to turn violent, such as in the January 14th demonstrations at two border crossings with Serbia, in Merdar/Merdare and Dheu i Bardhe/ Bela Zemlja.
At least 32 police officials were injured and 146 members of the movement were arrested. Several protesters were also injured -- 15 from Vetevendosje.
Vetevendosje, which takes its name from the Albanian word for self-determination, said it protested at the border crossings because it said the government failed to implement parliament's decision to impose full political, economic and trade reciprocity with Serbia.
Kurti blames police for the violence.
"I wouldn't say that this was confrontation with the police, rather, there were brutal violent police interventions, and then you might have had a few protesters who threw a rock or two towards the police, but only after the police had been throwing tear gas and launched its special units against the protesters to disperse them. We never injured anybody in our protests, and we might have damaged property of the regime, but we always maintained non-violence," Kurti says.
Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi ordered the police inspectorate to assess the intervention and the use of force following the incident.
Kosovo Police Inspectorate Director of Investigations Jetullah Aliu told SETimes they are still working on the report. "We don't have the preliminary results yet; we are dealing with the issue," he said.
Ramadan Ilazi, a political commentator and former executive director of the Speak-Up Movement, a Kosovo NGO, said Vetevendosje's popularity is growing, as is the public's distrust of state institutions.
However, "the substantial influence of this party has been, and continues to be, limited in the state-building process of Kosovo because Vetevendosje does not have external legitimacy," Ilazi told SETimes.
"The influence of Vetevendosje will increase as long as the state institutions do not make progress in improving the rule of law, and the fight [against] corruption and organised crime. And for as long as citizens see how the political elite misuse power for personal benefits," Ilazi told SETimes.
Kurti said that Vetevendosje is a political movement, not a political party.
"We are defined by our programmes, and there are a lot of differences [between us and opposition parties]," Kurti said. He does not exclude co-operation with opposition parties, but many of them do not agree with his policy of "street opposition".
"We co-operate in the parliament, on a number of specific things, and we will continue to do so, but we have a different political programme," he said.
Kosovo analyst and university professor, Belul Beqaj, says Vetevendosje's importance and influence will depend on two factors.
"First, it depends on how long the actual power continues with this policy of manipulations and lack of finding answers to the needs and interests of the common citizens. Second, it will [be based on] if the leadership of Vetevendosje realises that it cannot be the [leader] of national interests and [not] respect the rules of the free market," Beqaj told SETimes. |
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Setimes
|
|
