SKOPJE, Macedonia, March 5 (UPI) -- Clashes triggered by the appointment of a former ethnic Albanian rebel fighter as Macedonia's new defense minister left at least 22 people injured last weekend.
The violence began Friday in Skopje when Macedonian nationalists enraged over last month's appointment of Talat Xhaferi to head the country's armed forces attacked young Albanians in the vicinity of an urban bus station, the news agency INA reported.
The victims included primary and secondary school students, including 13-year-old Ramazan Iseni, who was photographed with blood streaming from his head.
"They beat us brutally, without sparing even children and women who were there waiting for the bus," he told INA.
Students said they were saved when an ethnic Albanian city bus driver managed to quickly close the door and leave the station.
The attacks came on the heels of a protest movement organized by the small opposition party Dignity, founded by former members of Macedonian security forces who fought against the Albanian separatist National Liberation Army during a 2001 conflict.
Xhaferi was the NLA's former commander.
Ethnic Albanians organized a counter-protest Saturday, during which police used tear gas to disperse crowds after protesters demolished a bus station in Skopje's central square while pelting police with stones, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Authorities said 13 police officers were hurt in the clash.
Hazrat Jakupi, one of the organizers of Saturday's counter demonstration, told the Albanian newspaper Gazeta Tema the protest wasn't directed against anyone in particular but instead was called to express indignation over Friday's attacks on children.
"We do not want incidents, we want peace," he said, "but enough with the beating of Albanian children."
The Albanian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Saturday condemning the bus station beatings, calling the actions "criminal acts intolerable and a serious shock for a democratic and multiethnic society" in Macedonia.
"(Albania) wishes a full and speedy recovery for the young Albanian students injured and expresses solidarity with their families, while unequivocally and strongly condemning any act of violence," the statement said.
"We appeal to the country's authorities to take immediate measures for the detection and punishment of offenders, and to ensure that these cases not be repeated. Law enforcement must act against anyone who commits or supports such acts of violence."
The foreign ministry said the clashes were an "alarm signal" to those who support the western Balkans' hopes of EU accession.
They came as an EU delegation headed by Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, European Parliament rapporteur on Macedonia Richard Howitt and former EP President Jerzy Buzek succeeded in defusing a political crisis in the Macedonian Parliament.
The trio announced they had broken a deadlock among Macedonia's political parties that had threatened to cause the commission to withdraw its support for the country's bid for early membership of the European Union, the European Voice reported.
The agreement ended the opposition's planned boycott of local elections set for March 24.
"We are pleased to see that the political leaders have finally been able to show their political responsibility and courage to agree on a solution which should bring the country back to the resumption of normal functioning of the political institutions and continuing constructive work on its Euro-Atlantic priorities for the ultimate benefit of the country and its people," the delegation said in a statement.
