PRISTINA (Reuters) – Kosovo police used pepper spray on Monday to disperse about 2,000 war veterans who tried to enter parliament to protest against a draft law on a minimum public sector wages that excludes them.
The International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions have warned that financially strapped Kosovo, riven by poverty and corruption, cannot afford to extend higher benefits to nearly 50,000 registered war veterans.
Lawmakers were scheduled on Monday to debate a law to raise the minimum public sector wage but support paid to war veterans was not included.
Around 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) veterans began gathering in front of parliament and police fired pepper spray when they tried to push their way into the building.
Protesters waved flags of the former guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army which waged a 1998-99 uprising against repressive Serbian rule. Kosovo won independence in 2008.
KLA veterans say Kosovo authorities have failed to accord them benefits and respect commensurate with their key role in achieving statehood for the small Balkan nation.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; editing by Ivana Sekularac and Jason Neely)
