Serb protesters break into US embassy in Belgrade

Serb protesters break into US embassy in Belgrade

Louise Radnofsky and agencies guardian.co.uk
February 21 2008

Up to 150,000 Serbs rally in Belgrade Photograph: Darko Vojinovic/AP

Protesters broke into the American embassy in Belgrade tonight, cheered on by some of the 150,000 Serbs gathered in the city to demonstrate against the independence of Kosovo.

The embassy was closed and police stood by as 300 demonstrators attacked the building with sticks and metal bars in a protest against US support for the former Serbian province's independence, Reuters reported.

One protester climbed up to the first floor of the building and ripped the American flag from its pole.

Earlier today there were minor clashes between Serbian army reservists and Nato-led peacekeepers backed by police at a Kosovan border checkpoint.

Several hundred reservists hurled rocks and burned tyres at a checkpoint in Merdare, about 30 miles north-east of Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

The reservists, thought to be veterans from the 1998-1999 war, arrived from the Serbian town of Kursumlija in buses and brought a bulldozer.

Chanting "Kosovo is ours! Kosovo is Serbia", they managed to push through into Kosovo but later dispersed and crossed back into Serbia, UN police said.

Tens of thousands of Serbs continued to pour into the square outside the old Yugoslav parliament building in Belgrade as night fell, in a state-sponsored rally. Some waved Serbian flags and carried signs proclaiming "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag, the AP said.

The Serbian prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, told the crowd that "Kosovo belongs to the Serbian people."

"As long as we live, Kosovo is Serbia," he said from a stage in front of the former parliament building. A huge banner with the same message was draped across the front of the old parliament.

"We'll never give up Kosovo, never!" protesters chanted back.

Children were given the day off school for the event, and the state railway country allowed hundreds of trains to transport people to the rally free of charge.