C
Cap'n Fishlips
Guest
Serbia: US 'culprit' in Kosovo violence
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC and SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writers Sat
Feb 23, 4:23 PM ET
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo - Serbia's hard-line leaders on Saturday
called the U.S. "the main culprit" in the violence that has broken out
since Kosovo declared independence.
Several thousand Serbs chanting "Kosovo is Serbia!" and "Russia,
Vladimir Putin!" protested peacefully in the ethnically divided town
of Kosovska Mitrovica, the sixth day of demonstrations against
Kosovo's break with Serbia. Russia backs Serbia's fierce resistance to
Kosovo's secession.
On Thursday night, protesters in the Serbian capital Belgrade set fire
to the U.S. embassy, angered by Washington's recognition of Kosovo.
The U.S. and the European Union responded by demanding Serbia protect
foreign embassies.
"The United States is the main culprit ... for all those violent
acts," Serbia's Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic said in
Belgrade.
Other Serbian leaders have called for calm after the riots. But an
aide to hard-line Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said any
future violence also will be blamed on the U.S.
"If the United States sticks to its present position that the fake
state of Kosovo exists ... all responsibility in the future will be on
the United States," Kostunica adviser Branislav Ristivojevic said in a
statement.
The comments were an indication that Serbia is drifting further from
the West and more toward ally Russia.
The vast majority of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian and Serbs
represent about 10 percent of the region's 2 million people.
Kosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been
administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes
ended former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic
Albanian separatists, which killed 10,000 people.
Kosovo's minority Serbs have staged protests daily since the
territory's ethnic Albanian leadership proclaimed independence last
Sunday. They have vented their anger by destroying U.N. and NATO
property as well.
In the divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica in Serb-dominated northern
Kosovo, a few protesters hurled firecrackers as U.N. police in riot
gear formed a cordon across the main bridge separating the Serb and
ethnic Albanian sides. Demonstrators waved Serbian and Russian flags
and chanted in support of Moscow's refusal to recognize Kosovo's
independence.
The protest was far less violent than one on Friday, when angry
demonstrators hurled stones, glass bottles and firecrackers at U.N.
forces protecting the bridge.
In the Serb enclave of Strpce in southern Kosovo, about 100 Serbs also
marched peacefully Saturday. They carried Serbian flags to a nearby
church, where they rang the bells to sound their disapproval of
Kosovo's statehood. Some carried posters reading "Kosovo is Serbia"
and "Kosovo will never be Albania."
"The whole nation is angry," said Sinisa Tasic, one of the organizers.
"We are furious with the Americans. Wherever they go they create
problems."
There, too, solidarity with Moscow was on display.
"For the first time ever, Serbia is not alone
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC and SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writers Sat
Feb 23, 4:23 PM ET
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo - Serbia's hard-line leaders on Saturday
called the U.S. "the main culprit" in the violence that has broken out
since Kosovo declared independence.
Several thousand Serbs chanting "Kosovo is Serbia!" and "Russia,
Vladimir Putin!" protested peacefully in the ethnically divided town
of Kosovska Mitrovica, the sixth day of demonstrations against
Kosovo's break with Serbia. Russia backs Serbia's fierce resistance to
Kosovo's secession.
On Thursday night, protesters in the Serbian capital Belgrade set fire
to the U.S. embassy, angered by Washington's recognition of Kosovo.
The U.S. and the European Union responded by demanding Serbia protect
foreign embassies.
"The United States is the main culprit ... for all those violent
acts," Serbia's Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic said in
Belgrade.
Other Serbian leaders have called for calm after the riots. But an
aide to hard-line Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said any
future violence also will be blamed on the U.S.
"If the United States sticks to its present position that the fake
state of Kosovo exists ... all responsibility in the future will be on
the United States," Kostunica adviser Branislav Ristivojevic said in a
statement.
The comments were an indication that Serbia is drifting further from
the West and more toward ally Russia.
The vast majority of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian and Serbs
represent about 10 percent of the region's 2 million people.
Kosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been
administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes
ended former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic
Albanian separatists, which killed 10,000 people.
Kosovo's minority Serbs have staged protests daily since the
territory's ethnic Albanian leadership proclaimed independence last
Sunday. They have vented their anger by destroying U.N. and NATO
property as well.
In the divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica in Serb-dominated northern
Kosovo, a few protesters hurled firecrackers as U.N. police in riot
gear formed a cordon across the main bridge separating the Serb and
ethnic Albanian sides. Demonstrators waved Serbian and Russian flags
and chanted in support of Moscow's refusal to recognize Kosovo's
independence.
The protest was far less violent than one on Friday, when angry
demonstrators hurled stones, glass bottles and firecrackers at U.N.
forces protecting the bridge.
In the Serb enclave of Strpce in southern Kosovo, about 100 Serbs also
marched peacefully Saturday. They carried Serbian flags to a nearby
church, where they rang the bells to sound their disapproval of
Kosovo's statehood. Some carried posters reading "Kosovo is Serbia"
and "Kosovo will never be Albania."
"The whole nation is angry," said Sinisa Tasic, one of the organizers.
"We are furious with the Americans. Wherever they go they create
problems."
There, too, solidarity with Moscow was on display.
"For the first time ever, Serbia is not alone
