The World : Purge Ordered in Kosovo

Communist leaders in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo ordered a major purge of officials blamed for widespread rioting by ethnic Albanians there. The decision by the party’s Central Committee to fire officials in institutions ranging from Parliament to trade unions came after the worst violence that Yugoslavia has seen since the Balkan federation was created in 1948. Official figures put the death toll at 24 in a week of street battles and shooting. All the protests opposed attempts by Serbia, Yugoslavia’s biggest republic, to curb the powers of Kosovo, an autonomous province within the republic. Ethnic Albanians make up about 90% of Kosovo’s population.