Macedonian president flees rioters

There has been growing anger over the conflict with ethnic Albanian rebels

SKOPJE, Macedonia (CNN) -- Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski was evacuated from parliament late on Monday after about 5,000 demonstrators stormed the building.

A government adviser told CNN the president was moved to a "more secure location somewhere else in the city" as a "precautionary move."

Protesters were angry at the government's handling of a cease-fire with ethnic Albanian rebels and demanded Trajkovski's resignation for appearing lenient to the gunmen.

The demonstrators claimed Trajkovski had bowed to international pressure by allowing the rebels to take their weapons with them as they pulled back from the town of Aracinovo -- a strategically important suburb of Skopje.

The government adviser said he believed protesters were reacting to seeing NATO and KFOR move "a group of terrorists from one area to another" and that the crowds were lashing out at Trajkovski because "they feel he was the one who brokered the deal."

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Many ran for cover after gunshots rang out from several directions. It is not clear who was doing the shooting or who, if anyone, was targeted. The rioters smashed windows and furniture and looted the parliament building.

The violent protests came during a day that started with progress following the EU-backed cease-fire, but quickly degenerated into virtual chaos in the capital.

Despite the cease-fire, heavy shelling was reported in the north and two American peacekeepers were wounded in a separate incident in Nikustak after their battalion came under fire, apparently by Macedonian troops.

At the Skopje parliament, the demonstrators broke through a cordon of police, hurled stones through windows and entered the building.

Once inside, protesters tossed office contents through the glass windows in the three-storey, concrete Stalinist-era building, which occupies an entire block in the centre of the city. Several people planted Macedonian flags on balconies.

Police did not use force in attempting to calm the crowd. At one point, about 30 police were amid the crowd, chanting and waving the Macedonian flag.

A few police and journalists were wounded amid the chaos, including some who were transported to hospitals after being badly beaten by the crowd, which grew steadily in size throughout the day.

The president has made no statement since the demonstrations began.

In Aracinovo, the rebels said they agreed to the pullback on the condition that Macedonian forces did not enter the village, and that the Macedonian side observed the ceasefire.

A NATO spokesman said 15 buses were being used to transport ethnic Albanian rebels from Aracinovo to the village of Nikustak, about two kilometres away.

The buses were provided by France, Italy and the U.S., the nations taking part in KFOR -- the NATO-led international force responsible for establishing a security presence in neighbouring Kosovo.

The KFOR soldiers do not have a mandate in Macedonia but were called into the area for logistical support. Several thousands of the troops are stationed in Macedonia to assist with the rebel pullout.

Locals were hired to drive the buses, said the NATO spokesman, and KFOR soldiers were not involved in the rebel pullback.

Ceasefire monitors from the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are unarmed and the convoy was not provided with an armed escort, according to the NATO spokesman. He said Macedonian government forces were being trusted not to attack the convoy.

EU and OSCE diplomats negotiated Monday's ceasefire at Aracinovo. It came after shelling there destroyed a brief truce in the village brokered by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Youths and police officers protest in front of the parliament building in Skopje.

The rebels had said they would pull out of Aracinovo if international monitors were put in place in the region, which was part of the agreement brokered on Sunday by Solana. But after Solana left the region on Sunday, Macedonia reneged on this stipulation.

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said: "We are monitoring the situation in Macedonia very closely." He said U.S. Ambassador Michael Einik had been in regular contact with officials in the Balkan nation.

"We urge all citizens of Macedonia to remain calm and to use the opportunity of the cease-fire to pursue a political process," Reeker said, adding that Washington continued to support Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and the country's broad coalition government.

The ethnic Albanians say they are fighting for more rights from Macedonia's government. The government accuses the rebels -- who make up a third of Macedonia's two million people -- of trying to split ethnic Albanian-populated areas from the rest of the country.

-- CNN's Juliette Terzieff and Brussels Bureau Chief Patricia Kelly and journalist Vladimir Juzelov contributed to this report.