By SPA
Washington : The U.S. State Department on Thursday urged Serbian authorities to protect diplomatic buildings in Belgrade, confirming video images of Serbian demonstrators breaking into the U.S. embassy compound in the capital of Serbia to protest Western support for the independence of Kosovo.
“We are in contact with the Serbian government to ensure that they devote the appropriate assets to fulfill their international obligations to help protect diplomatic facilities, in this case, our embassy,” spokesman Sean McCormack said as live video images showed Serbian demonstrators defacing the U.S. embassy and burning flags in the diplomatic district of Belgrade.
“They have been, up until this point, very good in providing police assets to ensure that the embassy facility was protected,” McCormack told reporters.
“The situation as it stands now, is that there are some number of Serbian citizens who are on part of the embassy compound, in the consular building area,” McCormack said. “The embassy staff is not at the chancery or at the embassy. The only people that we have right now at the embassy are the security people and the Marine guards.”
After the spokesman’s briefing, television images showed Serbian riot police clearing the area of protesters and making a few arrests.
McCormack said the U.S. ambassador to Serbia was at his residence, and U.S.
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns was briefed in Washington on the situation by the Serbian ambassador. Burns then briefed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is returning to Washington with President George W. Bush from a trip to Africa.
“Individuals have the right to peacefully protest, and certainly that is a right. The problem becomes if those protesters turn to violence and if the government, which has certain responsibilities [under] the international system, doesn’t take steps to live up to those responsibilities,” McCormack said, adding that was not necessarily the case in the Belgrade situation.
McCormack said Washington understands Serbia’s disagreement with U.S. support for the independence of Kosovo, which Serbia considers its historical and symbolic homeland.
“We have maintained an open diplomatic line with the Serbian government. They understand clearly the reasoning behind the actions that we have taken. They disagree with those actions. But going forward, we want to have a good relationship with the Serbian people and with the Serbian government,” McCormack said.