(10 Dec 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Tilt down from Albanian flag waving to poster advertising independence rally
2. Thousands of Kosovo Albanian students gathering for rally
3. Various of crowd gathering, banners
4. Various of crowd setting off on march
5. Various of march, protesters chanting independence slogans
6. Close-up of US and Albanian flags
7. Pan right of march
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Burim Balaj, student rally organiser:
"All what we want is independence now, right now. We want from our leaders to do that now. And we want from United Nations community to accept that, to accept our independence now."
9. Protesters walking past camera
10. Close-up of banner reading: (English) "USA kick some Putin ass. Serbia burn in hell forever!"
11. Mid shot of protesters
STORYLINE
Thousands of Kosovo Albanian students demonstrated in Pristina on Monday in favour of immediate independence, as tensions rose with the failure of international mediators to negotiate a compromise on Kosovo's future status
The students marched from Pristina University to Kosovo's parliament to demonstrate their impatience in bringing the province's eight-year quest for statehood to a quick conclusion.
Rally organiser Burim Balaj said: "All what we want is independence now, right now. We want from our leaders to do that now. And we want from United Nations community to accept that, to accept our independence now."
Kosovo will declare independence from Serbia well before May a government spokesman said on Monday, as officials echoed the students' call for a swift sign off on statehood by the EU.
European Union foreign ministers were locked in talks on Monday with lone holdout Cyprus over whether the bloc should recognise Kosovo's drive for independence from Serbia.
Kosovo is widely expected to announce early in 2008 that it will formally break away from Serbia, but has vowed not to do so without EU and US approval.
Officials said a declaration of independence is expected sometime in January or February.
That would start a 120-day internationally supervised transition, during which the US and other countries would recognise the new state and the UN would hand off administration to the EU.
It remained unclear whether the province's leaders would wait until after Serbian presidential elections, which are tentatively set for January 20.
Serbia has rejected a proposal for phased-in, supervised statehood for Kosovo, a region it considers its historic homeland.
On Sunday, Kosovo's leadership issued a statement pledging to refrain from violence and "do the utmost to ensure Kosovo remains calm" as NATO beefs up its presence in the volatile province, fearing revived hostility between the rival sides.
On Friday, the so-called "troika" of envoys from the EU, US and Russia reported back to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that four months of internationally mediated talks had ended in a stalemate.
The Security Council is set to take up the issue on December 19.
The US and most EU countries have signalled they will recognise an independent Kosovo, but Cyprus has refused, fearing it would set a bad
precedent by encouraging separatist movements elsewhere in Europe and worldwide.
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