Albin Kurti: Kosovo Rebel Who Dreams Of Being PM

Once dubbed 'Kosovo's Che Guevara', Albin Kurti has led street riots, unleashed tear gas canisters in parliament and served time as a political prisoner.

Pristina, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Nov, 2018 ) :Once dubbed 'Kosovo's Che Guevara', Albin Kurti has led street riots, unleashed tear gas canisters in parliament and served time as a political prisoner.

Today Kurti wears a slick suit and has rebranded himself as a social democrat as he dreams of becoming Prime Minister.

The former student activist made his name on the streets, where he organised protests in the late 1990s against former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, whose troops waged a bloody campaign against Kosovo's Albanian majority.

Kurti spent two years in a Serbian jail for his activism.

Twenty years later he is the leading opposition politician in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

The 43-year-old commands huge rallies of supporters of his Vetevendosje (Self-determination) party. An anti-government protest on September 29 was one the largest in a decade.

Some Vetevendosje protests, however, have veered into violence with instances of Kurti supporters lobbying Molotov cocktails at parliament and overturning UN and EU-owned cars.

The September crowd was large but orderly, helping rework the reputation of a radical leader who is hoping to take the baton from politicians he has long criticised.

"I would be just. Neither strong nor weak," Kurti, who peppers his speech with pithy slogans, told AFP.