Kosovo Protesters Greet EU Envoy with Rotten Tomatoes

Around a hundred ethnic Albanian hardliners on Thursday threw rotten tomatoes at the EU mediator in talks with Pristina and Belgrade, after he met Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci.

The tomatoes did not hit European Union envoy Robert Cooper as he stepped out from the government building, but he was forced to retreat and leave through a back door.

The protesters, members of the nationalist Self-Determination Movement, blocked access to the government buildings in Pristina chanting 'Stop the talks' and "Serbia did not apologize for the crimes it committed' immediately after Cooper was received by Thaci.

"Self-Determination is against any deal with Serbia concluded by corrupted politicians behind citizens' back," said Glauk Konjufca, a spokesman for the movement.

Self-Determination, the third biggest party in Kosovo's parliament, opposes all contact with Serbia and aspires to unification with neighboring Albania.

Thaci condemned the protest in a press release adding that it "damages the European image" of Kosovo.

Cooper arrived here for talks with Thaci on the continuation of the EU-brokered dialogue with Belgrade, which was postponed due to the Serbian elections early May.

The dialogue began in March 2010 as a bid to end day-to-day headaches caused by Kosovo's move to declare independence in 2008 and Serbia's refusal to recognize it as a state.