SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Police have filed charges against 52 people in connection with rioting last week over a decentralization plan that paves the way for ethnic Albanian self-rule in municipalities in Macedonia where they form the majority, police said Sunday.
The clashes Friday in the town of Struga, about 160 kilometres southwest of the capital, Skopje, left 15 protesters and 24 police officers with minor injuries.
The violence erupted when hundreds of protesters tried to storm the government building in Struga, protesting a draft decentralization plan that would establish ethnic Albanian rule in the town. The protesters hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at police, who retaliated by firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
In a statement Sunday, police said they had interrogated more than 100 people about the riots. The criminal charges were filed for causing public danger and illegal possession of weapons, the statement said, adding that no one had been detained yet.
The charges come amid fears of more unrest, as the Macedonian parliament prepared to debate the law on Monday and the opposition called for more protests.
The decentralization plan is a key point in the 2001 peace deal that ended a six-month conflict between Macedonian government troops and ethnic Albanian rebels, who launched the insurgency in an effort to secure more rights. Ethnic Albanians are a minority in Macedonia, making up about 25 per cent of the population of two million.
