By RIA Novosti
Belgrade : Protests against Kosovo’s independence, the largest in Serbia’s history, turned into running street riots in Belgrade overnight leaving over 150 people injured.
Around 250,000 people took to the streets in the Serbian capital on Thursday for a demonstration of national unity in the wake of Kosovo’s declaration of independence on Sunday and its subsequent recognition by over a dozen countries.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic, film director Emir Kusturica and other political and public figures addressed huge crowds, calling for support for Kosovo’s territorial integrity and the minority Serb population in Kosovo.
Anti-American and European placards were visible and several demonstrators burnt the Albanian flag, previously borrowed by Kosovo’s separatist ethnic Albanian majority.
About an hour after the rally started, the demonstrators headed for a Christian Orthodox cathedral for a planned prayer service for the Kosovo Serbs. Meanwhile, several hundred people left the procession and made for the diplomatic missions of those countries backing Kosovo’s sovereignty.
Rioters attacked the embassies of the United States, Croatia, Belgium and Turkey, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. The U.S. embassy suffered the most damage and several floors were set on fire. U.S. diplomats later said that the remains of a charred body had been discovered in the building. Washington said all U.S. diplomats were safe and sound.
Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Hustled away from the embassies, the rioters – mostly youths – moved down the streets looting and damaging shops, kiosks and setting cars alight.
Around 150 people, including journalists and around 30 police officers, were injured.
Serbian President Boris Tadic, on a visit to Romania, called in a TV address for the riots to stop. The police were unable to restore control until far into the night. About a hundred people are reported to have been arrested.
Washington and the UN Security Council condemned the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Belgrade and urged Serbs to stay within international law and to respect the status of diplomatic missions. The EU followed suit.
Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador at the UN and Hillary Clinton’s top foreign policy advisor, claimed that Serbia’s long-time ally Russia was behind the riots in the Serb capital, but the Bush administration said there was no proof of Moscow’s involvement.