During a tense debate in the Parliament of Kosovo on the tensions in recent weeks between Kosovo and ethnic Serbs living in the north of the country, opposition member Margim Luštko, from the Democratic Party, approached the podium where Prime Minister Albin Kurti was giving a speech, and splashed him with water from a bottle he was holding.
He then turned to another member of the government who was sitting nearby and splashed water on him as well. Within seconds, a mass melee broke out with the participation of many members of parliament.
Some members of parliament were hit in the face during the melee. Only after long minutes of violent physical melee were the policemen who were called to the scene able to separate and calm down the angry members of parliament.
Prime Minister Kurti was rushed out of the parliament hall by his bodyguards.
As mentioned, the tense discussion took place after violent clashes between the ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo and the Kosovo police and peacekeeping forces stationed in the area.
Dozens of people, police and peacekeepers from NATO countries were injured in the clashes, raising fears of a conflict similar to the one in 1998 in which more than 10,000 people were killed. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Kurti announced that he would reduce the number of special police officers stationed outside the four municipal buildings in areas with an ethnic Serb majority in northern Kosovo, and new mayoral elections will be held.