Ethnic clashes in Macedonia leave dozens injured (PHOTOS)
A least 22 people, including 13 policemen have been injured in two days of clashes between ethnic groups and police in the Republic of Macedonia's capital, Skopje.
Police have used tear gas and stun grenades to quell the crowd
as they demolished a bus station in front of the government
building, burned Macedonian flag and threw stones at police lines.
Cars and shops have also been vandalized.
Police say 18 people were arrested so far, five of whom are
minors.
The demonstrations which have begun on March 1 were started by
ethnic Macedonians furious at the appointment of ethnic Albanian
Talat Xhaferi's as defense minister.
The next day, Saturday, ethnic Albanians staged their own protest
in the capital. Both protests turned violent, with Macedonians and
Albanians clashing with police.
Xhaferi, a former rebel guerrilla commander, was named defense
minister on February 20. In the 2001 conflict he fought for the
rights of Macedonia's 25 percent ethnic Albanian minority seeking
greater rights for their community.
Ethnic tension has been simmering in Macedonia since the end of the
8-month-long armed rebellion. The conflict left 80 people dead and
ended with the intervention of NATO troops.
Ethnic Albanians, who are mostly Muslim, make up nearly a third of
Macedonia's population of 2.1 million people in a country that is
majority Orthodox Christian.
