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Six policemen were injured and 27 people were detained Tuesday when a peaceful protest over the death of a Macedonian teenager in Skopje turned violent, AFP reports citing a police spokesman.
Violence broke out after police used tear gas to prevent several hundred young ethnic Macedonians to reach an ethnic Albanian settlement claiming that the murder was ethnically motivated, Ivan Kotevski told reporters.
Protests started after high school graduate Angel Petkovski was stabbed to death on Monday by an ethnic Albanian teenager who allegedly tried to steal his bicycle. The killer was arrested, police said.
Angry protesters threw stones at police and cars, injuring six officers, Kotevski said, adding that peace was restored quickly after the arrest of 27 people, most in their teens.
Relations between the two communities in this former Yugoslav republic have been marred by occasional tensions since a seven-month conflict in 2001 between regime forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.
A peace deal signed in August 2001 gave greater rights to ethnic Albanians, who make up some 25 percent of Macedonia's population of two million.
