Macedonian troops fought ethnic Albanian rebels on the edges of the country's second-largest city, Tetovo, for the third day in a row today, while flare-ups were reported in several other locations. The rebels, known as the National Liberation Army (UCK), began their insurgency about a month ago, claiming that they were fighting only for increased civil rights for Macedonia's Albanian population, who account for about one-quarter of Macedonia's two million people. The government has denounced the UCK as terrorists and separatists and on Thursday lifted restrictions which prevented the army from operating in populated areas. As a result, today's fighting involved heavy artillery, machine guns, and mortars for the first time. Eager to be considered in future European Union expansion plans, the Macedonian government has consistently downplayed the activities of the small group of rebels. With fighting so close to the nation's second-largest city, however, the government has been spurred to consider more decisive, and more public, action. Measures under consideration by a closed session of the Macedonian parliament reportedly include restructuring the budget to provide more money for security forces, curfews, and a general mobilization. Many analysts fear that either a widespread crackdown or allowing the rebels to continue unhindered may destabilize the region. It had been hoped that the recent decision by NATO to allow Yugoslav troops in the buffer region between Serbia and Kosovo would choke off the supply root to Albanian rebels in Macedonia, but it seems this has only pushed the rebels out of the border area and into Macedonia, intensifying the unrest there.