TIRANA, July 23 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 17 people, including a European Union (EU) security officer, were injured late Thursday in a violent protest in southwestern Macedonia against a controversial draft law by the coalition government, the MIA news agency reported on Friday.

    Hundreds of demonstrators protested against the government's proposal on decentralization and new administrative divisions in front of the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) party's municipal headquarters in Struga when Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski and Secretary General Nikola Kurciev were meeting there with local party members on the proposal.

    Some protesters threw stones and bottles at the building and smashed all the windows. They even destroyed three government vehicles and tried to set the building on fire.

    Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd. At least 17 people, including an EU security officer, were injuredin the conflict between the police and protesters.

    According to the draft law adopted by the coalition government last Thursday, the number of municipalities in Macedonia will be reduced from 123 to 80 and some regions with Albanians living in compact communities will be integrated into cities like Struga andSkopje.

    The plan also allows Albanian to become the second official language in municipalities with an Albanian population of at least20 percent.

    The government proposal, which still needs the parliament's approval, was strongly objected by the opposition parties and manyethnic Macedonians, who feared that the move would give too much power to the ethnic Albanian minority.

    Macedonia has a population of about two million people. Ethnic Macedonians account for more than 66 percent of the total, while about 23 percent of them are Albanians. Enditem