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Belgrade: Serb rioters enraged by Western support for Kosovo’s
independence set ablaze the US embassy in Belgrade, leaving one dead
in violence angrily condemned by Washington and the United Nations.
Nearly 100 people were injured in unrest late
Thursday that followed a largely peaceful rally of 150,000
demonstrators against Kosovo’s declaration of independence from
Serbia on Sunday.
The United States called the rioters
“thugs,” and there was also a strong protest by the European
Union.
With no police in sight, several hundred men
dressed in hooded sports tops and scarves threw flares and stormed
the US mission, sparking a fire that lasted for more than an hour. A
charred body later recovered from the embassy was not identified,
but an embassy spokeswoman said the victim was not a staff member.
The US State Department lodged a stern complaint
with Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns calling Serbian Prime
Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic to
formally protest.
“The message was very clear: that the
situation was intolerable,” State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said. “They needed to act immediately to provide the
adequate security forces so that our embassy compound and our
personnel would not be under attack,” McCormack said.
Embassies of other countries that have
recognized Kosovo’s break from Serbia were also targeted in the
rioting. A German embassy guard house was torched and a car was set
ablaze outside the Canadian diplomatic mission. Other embassies
targeted included those of Bosnia, Croatia and Turkey.
Serbian President Boris Tadic, on a visit to
Romania, appealed for an immediate end to the violence, Beta news
agency reported.
“To all those who are participating in the
unrest, I want to ask them to pull back. It only harms the defense
of our integrity and sovereignty and the defense of our Kosovo,”
Tadic was quoted as saying.
There was strong condemnation from the European
Union and in the UN Security Council, where Serbia’s main ally
Russia had blocked repeated attempts to move Kosovo further down the
path of independence.
UN Security Council members “condemn in the
strongest terms the mob attacks,” said a statement read by
Panama’s UN Ambassador Ricard Arias, the council chair this month.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the
violence “totally unacceptable” and appealed “for calm,
restraint and responsibility.”
-- AFP
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