|
'Kosovo is Serbia!'
21/02/2008 18:53 - (SA)
Belgrade - At least 150 000 Serbs gathered in central Belgrade on Thursday in a massive protest against Kosovo's declaration of independence, raising fears of street violence.
At a Kosovo border checkpoint, hundreds of Serbian army reservists chanting "Kosovo is ours! Kosovo is Serbia!" hurled stones at police and Nato-led peacekeepers as they crossed into Kosovo. They later dispersed and crossed back into Serbia.
Serbian schools were closed and the state railway company made free trains available to bring protesters to the afternoon rally in Belgrade, which organisers say will demonstrate Serbia's commitment to holding on to the province of 2 million people.
"Is there any other nation on Earth from whom (the great powers) are demanding that they give up their identity, to give up our brothers in Kosovo?" Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told the crowd in front of Serbia's parliament. "Nobody in Serbia will ever have the right to agree to that."
The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror". One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag. Most of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian.
There was no official estimate of the numbers of people at the rally, but the crowd's size and density indicated that at least 150 000 were attended the protest.
"We must regain what is ours. Kosovo has always been part of Serbia, and Serbia will never give up (its claim) to Kosovo," said Jovan Ilic of Novi Sad, a town 80 kilometres to the north.
More than a dozen nations have recognised Kosovo's declaration of independence, which was made on Sunday. They include the US, Britain, France and Germany.
But the declaration has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.
There are fears that Thursday's rally could spark renewed rioting by ultra-nationalists who attacked the US Embassy, McDonald's restaurants and other Western interests in the capital earlier this week.
The US Embassy warned American citizens to stay away from the Belgrade rally, saying the event may turn "confrontational and possibly escalate into violence."
"Businesses and organisations with US affiliations may serve as focal points for these demonstrations," a statement said.
The Serbian reservists at the Merdare checkpoint threw rocks and burned tires to create a billowing smoke screen before surging past.
UN police said the demonstrators, all army veterans who fought on the Serbian side in Kosovo's 1998-99 war, arrived from the Serbian town of Kursumlija in buses and brought a bulldozer.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw riot police with shields and batons erecting a large steel barrier across the road in an attempt to keep them from getting deeper into Kosovo. They later returned to Serbia.
|
News
