Serb demonstration turns violent

[Daniel]

Serb demonstration turns violent

Large protests in Serbia to protest the independence of Kosovo have turned violent with protesters setting fire to the US embassy in Belgrade.

At least 100,000 people had gathered outside the parliament earlier on Thursday in an initially peaceful rally to oppose Kosovo’s decision last Sunday to secede from Serbia.

However riot police clashed with protesters after the façade of the embassy was set on fire by flares after hundreds of young men stormed the building.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said he was "outraged by the mob attack," and that he would ask the UN Security Council to condemn it unanimously.

The violence spilled over to other embassies, including that of Croatia, and provoked widespread vandalising of shops and banks.

The rally had been backed by the Serbian government who refuse to accept the independence of the former province many Serbs see as their spiritual heartland.

More than 80 people were admitted to hospital after the violence, about half of them police and two journalists from France and the Netherlands, local media reported.

The embassy was unstaffed at the time of the attack. Cameron Munter, the ambassador, was at his private residence.

Barnaby Phillips, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Belgrade, said: "There is a great feeling among the crowd that America has treated Serbia very unfairly.

"The US... Britain, France and Italy are perceived by the people here as having ganged up on little Serbia and bullied their way into establishing an independent Kosovo.

"This is the second time the US embassy has been attacked in as many days. Initial reports are that the Serbian police were not terribly firm in stopping the attack."

US jeered

Earlier, Vojislav Kostunica, the country's prime minister, had told the crowd: "Is there any other nation on Earth from whom [Western powers] are demanding that they give up their identity, to give up our brothers in Kosovo?

"Nobody in Serbia will ever have the right to agree to that."

Many of the demonstrators waved Serbian flags, while some carried signs reading "Stop USA terror".

Most of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian. One group of protesters set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.

"We will not rest until Kosovo is again under Serbia's control. Hitler could not take it away from us, and neither will today's [Western powers]," Tomislav Nikolic, leader of the nationalist Radical Party, said.

Protesters booed and jeered at every mention of the United States and the European Union as Nikolic accused them of being responsible for the "theft" of Kosovo.

Rocks thrown

Earlier on Thursday at Merdare, a Kosovo border checkpoint, Serbian reservists threw rocks and burned tyres to create a smoke screen before surging past.

UN police said the demonstrators, arrived from the Serbian town of Kursumlija in buses and brought a bulldozer.

They are believed to be army veterans who fought on the Serbian side in Kosovo's 1998 to 1999 war.

Riot police with shields and batons erected a large steel barrier across the road in an attempt to keep them from pushing deeper into Kosovo.

The demonstrators, who chanted "Kosovo is ours! Kosovo is Serbia!" later dispersed and crossed back into Serbia.

Nations have been divided in their reaction to serbia's independence.

Venezuela joined the group of countries who say they will not recognise the move.

Hugo Chavez, the country's president, said the decision smacked of US interference and set a "dangerous precedent".

"This cannot be accepted, it is a truly dangerous precedent for the whole world and could also be the start of I don't know how many wars," he said.

More than a dozen nations, including the US, Britain, France and Germany, have recognised Kosovo's declaration of independence however.

But the declaration has been rejected by Serbia's government and ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo.

Russia, China and a number of other nations have also condemned the move, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.

Source: Agencies

[Abuz Zubair]

Why is it that Christianity breeds so much hatred and unsocial behaviour? How sad.

[Daniel]

Yes, I demand that Robert Spencer and his Jihadwatch.com ilk apologize and denounce this act of wanton violence, and assure us that the Eastern Orthodox sect doesn't promote violence and supremacist ideology.

[Abu Treika]

im sure morbius will be condenming these acts...

[leo]

Where are those now, who propagate freedom of speech and criticize Muslims for demonstrating against cartoonists and newspapers?

[morbius]

Why is it that Christianity breeds so much hatred and unsocial behaviour? How sad.

Last thing that Kosovo needs now is more violence, but people are reasonably upset.

When Jews came and snatched them Palestine, did Arabs smile and be in good humor about it? How can you expect Serbs to act differently?

[Abu Treika]

Last thing that Kosovo needs now is more violence, but people are reasonably upset.

When Jews came and snatched them Palestine, did Arabs smile and be in good humor about it? How can you expect Serbs to act differently?

why dont you condemn there acts of violence morbius?

either condemn it or agree that you have double standards, when it comes to the cause of your people you can understand why they act like this but you cant do the same for muslims

[Abuz Zubair]

Last thing that Kosovo needs now is more violence, but people are reasonably upset.

When Jews came and snatched them Palestine, did Arabs smile and be in good humor about it? How can you expect Serbs to act differently?

being upset, isn't the point.

Your own issues are quite reasonable to you. But Muslims going out on the streets and doing similar things remains unreasonable. That's the point, morbius.

[Umm]

why dont you condemn there acts of violence morbius?

either condemn it or agree that you have double standards, when it comes to the cause of your people you can understand why they act like this but you cant do the same for muslims

Why is that surprising though? We would be the same. For the individual, it all depends on who feels they are upon the truth.

[morbius]

being upset, isn't the point.

Your own issues are quite reasonable to you. But Muslims going out on the streets and doing similar things remains unreasonable. That's the point, morbius.

Just because I understand, doesn’t mean I approve.

This is not the way. We must demonstrate to show what we think about this whole matter, but not like this. This will only help CNN and other propaganda machines to show Serbs in bad light.