http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/22/kosovo.serbia
GUARDIAN (UK)
5pm GMT update
Police in standoff with Serb demonstrators over Kosovo
Mark Tran and agencies
Friday February 22 2008
Serb protesters engage in a standoff with UN riot police on the main bridge
in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica in Kosovo. Photograph: Damir
Sagolj/Reuters
UN police faced off today with about 5,000 Serb demonstrators trying to
cross a bridge in the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica, as protests at
Kosovo's declaration of independence continued.
In a brief skirmish, protesters lobbed stones, empty glass bottles and
firecrackers. No one appeared to be injured, and no tear gas was fired as
earlier reported, on the fifth day of public unrest since Kosovo's Albanian
leaders declared independence on Sunday.
"Kosovo is Serbia and we will never surrender, despite blackmail by the
European Union," a Serbian government official, Dragan Deletic, told the
crowd, which responded by chanting: "Kosovo is Serbia."
The Kosovska Mitrovica bridge over the Ibar river - dividing Kosovo Serbs
from ethnic Albanians - has long been a flash point of tensions in northern
Kosovo.
The show of Serbian disgruntlement came despite appeals by Kosovo's prime
minister, Hashim Thaçi, for Serbs to play a constructive role in Europe's
fledgling state.
"My message to Serbs of Kosovo is to continue to be part of the institutions
of Kosovo," Thaçi told the Associated Press. "I call them to join us in our
vision for a new Kosovo, and for Kosovo to be a part of the EU and Nato.
Kosovo is a country of everybody."
He expressed hope that the daily violence that has broken out at border
posts since Sunday's declaration will ease as peacekeepers step up patrols
and the EU deploys a 1,800-member police and justice mission.
In Belgrade, the nationalist prime minister appealed for calm after rioting
in the Serb capital left one person dead and damaged US and western
embassies.
"This directly damages our ... national interests," said Vojislav Kostunica.
"All those who support the fake state of Kosovo are rejoicing at the sight
of violence in Belgrade."
Kostunica's appeal for calm came as Serbia's pro-western politicians warned
the violence could be a prelude for a crackdown against moderates.
The defence minister, Dragan Sutanovac, of the EU-friendly Democratic party,
described the violence that followed Kosovo's declaration of independence at
the weekend as "one of Belgrade's saddest days".
He said rioters were encouraged by the support of some nationalist
politicians for smaller attacks against western embassies and commercial
interests in the city earlier in the week.
Several ministers and other top officials in nationalist prime minister
Vojislav Kostunica's government, and leaders of the ultra-nationalist
Radical party, had dismissed those attacks as "minor incidents".
Some 200,000 people attended yesterday's state-backed rally and officials
said police were overwhelmed by the biggest march since protesters stormed
the old Yugoslav parliament building in 2000 to oust nationalist leader
Slobodan Milosevic.
But police were nowhere to be seen when scores of rioters - many wearing
balaclavas - attacked the US embassy for the second time in a week. A
charred body, apparently that of a rioter, was later found in the embassy.
EU officials issued a veiled threat to Kostunica that Serb actions could
imperil closer ties with the 27-member bloc.
"The embassies have to be protected, and that is the obligation of the
country," the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told reporters at an
EU event in Slovenia.
"Things will have to calm down before we can recuperate the climate that
would allow for any contact to move on the SAA [stabilisation and
association agreement]," he said of a preliminary deal on ties with the EU.
The pact was agreed last year but the EU has said it will not sign it until
Belgrade fully cooperates with the UN war crimes tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia. The EU was ready to sign an interim trade deal but Kostunica
blocked the move earlier this month in protest over Kosovo, which seceded
from Serbia on Sunday.
Kosovo had been under UN administration since 1999 when Nato bombing drove
out Milosevic's troops to halt a crackdown against Kosovo Albanians.
Thaçi said the violence raging across Belgrade yesterday was reminiscent of
the Milosevic era. "The pictures of yesterday in Belgrade were pictures of
Milosevic's time," said Thaçi, a former guerrilla leader of the
now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army who is reviled by Kosovo Serbs.
More than a dozen countries have recognised Kosovo's declaration of
independence, including the US, Britain, France and Germany. But the
declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by
Serbia's government and the Serbs who live in northern Kosovo.
In Bosnia, which is made up of the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat
federation, Bosnian Serb MPs threatened to hold a referendum on secession if
a majority of UN member states and the EU recognised Kosovo's independence.
The parliament of the Serb Republic yesterday adopted a resolution attacking
Kosovo's declaration of independence as an illegal act that violated
Serbia's territorial integrity.
But Bosnian Serb prime minister Milorad Dodik told parliament there was no
rush to break up the country. "We are not adventurers," he said, "and we do
not plan to broach a decision about independence now. The referendum can be
used only once, if we decide and when we decide it. It is no game."
Serbs protesting Kosovo's independence attacked UN police guarding a key
bridge in northern Kosovo with stones and empty glass bottles Friday.
Some 5,000 Serbs rallied in this tense town, waving Serbian flags and
chanting "Kosovo is ours!" in a fifth day of protests since Kosovo's ethnic
Albanian leaders declared independence last weekend.
letters@guardian.co.uk
GUARDIAN (UK)
5pm GMT update
Police in standoff with Serb demonstrators over Kosovo
Mark Tran and agencies
Friday February 22 2008
Serb protesters engage in a standoff with UN riot police on the main bridge
in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica in Kosovo. Photograph: Damir
Sagolj/Reuters
UN police faced off today with about 5,000 Serb demonstrators trying to
cross a bridge in the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica, as protests at
Kosovo's declaration of independence continued.
In a brief skirmish, protesters lobbed stones, empty glass bottles and
firecrackers. No one appeared to be injured, and no tear gas was fired as
earlier reported, on the fifth day of public unrest since Kosovo's Albanian
leaders declared independence on Sunday.
"Kosovo is Serbia and we will never surrender, despite blackmail by the
European Union," a Serbian government official, Dragan Deletic, told the
crowd, which responded by chanting: "Kosovo is Serbia."
The Kosovska Mitrovica bridge over the Ibar river - dividing Kosovo Serbs
from ethnic Albanians - has long been a flash point of tensions in northern
Kosovo.
The show of Serbian disgruntlement came despite appeals by Kosovo's prime
minister, Hashim Thaçi, for Serbs to play a constructive role in Europe's
fledgling state.
"My message to Serbs of Kosovo is to continue to be part of the institutions
of Kosovo," Thaçi told the Associated Press. "I call them to join us in our
vision for a new Kosovo, and for Kosovo to be a part of the EU and Nato.
Kosovo is a country of everybody."
He expressed hope that the daily violence that has broken out at border
posts since Sunday's declaration will ease as peacekeepers step up patrols
and the EU deploys a 1,800-member police and justice mission.
In Belgrade, the nationalist prime minister appealed for calm after rioting
in the Serb capital left one person dead and damaged US and western
embassies.
"This directly damages our ... national interests," said Vojislav Kostunica.
"All those who support the fake state of Kosovo are rejoicing at the sight
of violence in Belgrade."
Kostunica's appeal for calm came as Serbia's pro-western politicians warned
the violence could be a prelude for a crackdown against moderates.
The defence minister, Dragan Sutanovac, of the EU-friendly Democratic party,
described the violence that followed Kosovo's declaration of independence at
the weekend as "one of Belgrade's saddest days".
He said rioters were encouraged by the support of some nationalist
politicians for smaller attacks against western embassies and commercial
interests in the city earlier in the week.
Several ministers and other top officials in nationalist prime minister
Vojislav Kostunica's government, and leaders of the ultra-nationalist
Radical party, had dismissed those attacks as "minor incidents".
Some 200,000 people attended yesterday's state-backed rally and officials
said police were overwhelmed by the biggest march since protesters stormed
the old Yugoslav parliament building in 2000 to oust nationalist leader
Slobodan Milosevic.
But police were nowhere to be seen when scores of rioters - many wearing
balaclavas - attacked the US embassy for the second time in a week. A
charred body, apparently that of a rioter, was later found in the embassy.
EU officials issued a veiled threat to Kostunica that Serb actions could
imperil closer ties with the 27-member bloc.
"The embassies have to be protected, and that is the obligation of the
country," the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told reporters at an
EU event in Slovenia.
"Things will have to calm down before we can recuperate the climate that
would allow for any contact to move on the SAA [stabilisation and
association agreement]," he said of a preliminary deal on ties with the EU.
The pact was agreed last year but the EU has said it will not sign it until
Belgrade fully cooperates with the UN war crimes tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia. The EU was ready to sign an interim trade deal but Kostunica
blocked the move earlier this month in protest over Kosovo, which seceded
from Serbia on Sunday.
Kosovo had been under UN administration since 1999 when Nato bombing drove
out Milosevic's troops to halt a crackdown against Kosovo Albanians.
Thaçi said the violence raging across Belgrade yesterday was reminiscent of
the Milosevic era. "The pictures of yesterday in Belgrade were pictures of
Milosevic's time," said Thaçi, a former guerrilla leader of the
now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army who is reviled by Kosovo Serbs.
More than a dozen countries have recognised Kosovo's declaration of
independence, including the US, Britain, France and Germany. But the
declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by
Serbia's government and the Serbs who live in northern Kosovo.
In Bosnia, which is made up of the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat
federation, Bosnian Serb MPs threatened to hold a referendum on secession if
a majority of UN member states and the EU recognised Kosovo's independence.
The parliament of the Serb Republic yesterday adopted a resolution attacking
Kosovo's declaration of independence as an illegal act that violated
Serbia's territorial integrity.
But Bosnian Serb prime minister Milorad Dodik told parliament there was no
rush to break up the country. "We are not adventurers," he said, "and we do
not plan to broach a decision about independence now. The referendum can be
used only once, if we decide and when we decide it. It is no game."
Serbs protesting Kosovo's independence attacked UN police guarding a key
bridge in northern Kosovo with stones and empty glass bottles Friday.
Some 5,000 Serbs rallied in this tense town, waving Serbian flags and
chanting "Kosovo is ours!" in a fifth day of protests since Kosovo's ethnic
Albanian leaders declared independence last weekend.
letters@guardian.co.uk
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