The Associated Press 

The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the
express written consent of The Associated Press. 

                               October 21, 1987, Wednesday, AM cycle 

SECTION: International News 

LENGTH: 333 words 

HEADLINE: Serb, Montenegrin Pupils Boycott Classes in Kosovo 

DATELINE: BELGRADE, Yugoslavia 

BODY:
Students of Serbian and Montenegrin nationalities boycotted classes in the capital of Kosovo province Wednesday to protest alleged harassment by the Albanian ethnic majority, a news agency reported.

The Tanjug news agency said the boycott was also spreading in schools at three villages close to Pristina, the provincial capital.

More than 22,000 Serbs and Montenegrins have left the southern province since ethnic riots in 1981. They alleged harassment by ethnic Albanians, who are about 85 percent of the province's population.

Kosovo is Yugoslavia's poorest region and offers little economic opportunity.

Some Albanians seek either more autonomy for Kosovo or unity of the province with Albania. Kosovo is administered as part of the republic of Serbia.

The central committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party held its first meeting on Kosovo in June, but ethnic tension in the province apparently has not eased.

Thousands of Serb and Montenegrin women demonstrated throughout Kosovo over the weekend against alleged insults by Fadilj Hodja, a former high ranking ethnic Albanian official and vice president of Yugoslavia in the late 1970s.

Another demonstration by about 5,000 people took place Wednesday at a Pristina suburb to protest alleged harassment by the Albanian majority. Protesters repeated calls for Hodja to be tried, Tanjug said.

Yugoslav newspapers recently reported Hodja stated last year that prostitution by Serbian women could halt frequent cases of alleged rapes in Kosovo.

Belgrade newspapers have often reported alleged sexual assaults against Serbian and Montenegrin women by Albanians in Kosovo.

The presidium of the ruling Communist Party on Tuesday expelled Hodja, now retired, from the party for his alleged support of Albanian nationalism in Kosovo.

The Ekspres Politika daily quoted Serb and Montenegrin pupils as saying they fear going out after dark in Pristina because of what they said were possible attacks by ethnic Albanian nationalists.




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