Police detonate hand grenade lobbed near court

Bomb disposal experts on Wednesday detonated a hand grenade thrown near Kosovo's Constitutional Court, which has been asked to rule on an accord with former ruler Serbia that has triggered violent protests.

On Tuesday, opposition lawmakers fired tear gas and pepper spray in parliament and police clashed with rock-throwing protesters as a political crisis over relations with Serbia - from which Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 - deepened.

On Wednesday, police and bomb squad units surrounded the Constitutional Court in central Pristina, a Reuters witness said, and a senior police official said a grenade had been thrown into the back yard of the court complex.

No one was hurt and the grenade was detonated in a controlled explosion.

Kosovo's parliamentary opposition is demanding the government scrap a European Union-brokered deal to regulate ties between Serbia and Kosovo, angry in particular at an agreement to grant ethnic Serb areas in Kosovo greater local powers and the possibility of some financing from Belgrade.

Majority-Albanian Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 1999 when NATO bombed for 11 weeks to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces trying to crush a guerrilla insurgency.

Kosovo's president has sought a ruling from the court on whether the EU-brokered deal was in line with the constitution. The court is due to issue its ruling in the next few weeks.

Police also said they were looking for three more lawmakers including Albin Kurti, founder of the opposition Self-Determination party, who is wanted for releasing tear gas and firing pepper spray.