Macedonia MPs' row hits streets

Armed police units detained the opposition activists

Macedonian police have clashed with supporters of an ethnic Albanian party outside parliament after rival MPs exchanged blows inside the building.

At least five people were arrested and three were hurt as they tried to resist arrest on Tuesday evening, police said.

Activists from an opposition party had blocked roads to parliament after rival ethnic Albanian deputies clashed during a debate over electoral reforms.

An ethnic Albanian uprising almost led to a civil war in Macedonia in 2001.

Tuesday's brawl erupted during a bad-tempered debate in parliament over a proposed change to electoral laws.

Deputies from the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), the largest ethnic Albanian opposition party, clashed with MPs from an ethnic Albanian party in the governing coalition, the Party for Democratic Prosperity.

Roads blocked

DUI deputies have opposed government plans to guarantee parliamentary seats for Macedonia's smaller ethnic groups.

They argue this will undermine their influence and upset Macedonia's unique system of democratic checks.

The brawl spilled out of the debating chamber and into the corridors of parliament.

Later in the evening, DUI activists - including armed bodyguards - tried to block main roads leading to the parliament building in Skopje.

"Some of the activists were harassing people, and others went towards the parliament," police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told the Reuters news agency.

"Police intervened and stopped them. Some of them attacked the police and others fled," he said.

The 2001 uprising resulted in six months of clashes that ended only when Western powers brokered a peace deal.

The deal guaranteed greater rights to the ethnic Albanians, who account for roughly 25% of the 2m people living in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.