KOSOVO: All quiet at Merdare border post with Serbia after thousands rally in North Mitrovica against Kosovo secession

Record ID: 731361

  • Title: KOSOVO: All quiet at Merdare border post with Serbia after thousands rally in North Mitrovica against Kosovo secession
  • Date: 23rd February 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) PRISTINA, KOSOVO (FEBRUARY 22, 2008) (REUTERS) KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER HASHIM THACI AND HEAD OF EU MISSION IN KOSOVO PETER FAITH WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "The images we have seen last night in Belgrade belong to the past. This was not only a reaction to the declaration of independence by Kosovo, but was a reaction to the whole democratic world. I think that people in Serbia do not need another confrontation with civilisation, therefore the responsibility lies with the people who did such things."
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACR6YBSZJ5XHFOYWNBJ9Q74I62
  • Story Text: Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci warned that Serbia was "descending into the past", after rioters stormed the U.S. embassy in Belgrade late on Thursday (February 21) and set it on fire after a mass "Kosovo is Serbia" state rally. The British, German, Croatian and Turkish missions were also attacked.

    "The images we have seen last night in Belgrade belong to the past. This was not only a reaction to the declaration of independence by Kosovo, but was a reaction to the whole democratic world. I think that people in Serbia do not need another confrontation with civilisation, therefore the responsibility lies with the people who did such things," Thaci told reporters after meeting with the Head of EU Mission in Kosovo, Peter Faith, on Friday (February 22).
    The European Union has told Serbia to protect embassies and suggested such violence could harm its prospects of closer ties with the bloc.
    Washington protested and the UN Security Council condemned the "mob attacks" which Serbia blamed on isolated vandals.
    A convoy of buses carrying students from Belgrade on Friday were prevented from crossing into northern Kosovo.
    More than 10 vehicles were stopped at the crossing at Janjicevo. Troops from NATO's 17,000-strong KFOR force guarded the border.
    The students were travelling from Belgrade to Mitrovica in north Kosovo to join students in the divided city.
    In Mitrovica, several thousand ethnic Serbs massed to taunt UN riot police on the main bridge after a rally against Kosovo's independence.
    The mostly young crowd was singing patriotic Serbian songs and chanting anti-Albanian slogans. Some lobbed firecrackers towards the police who were blocking the way to the bridge's southern end, in the Albanian part of the city.
    Rallies were also scheduled in Serbia's southern city of Nis and Montenegro's capital Podgorica.
    The Merdare border crossing with Serbia remained calm on Friday, after approximately 200 Serb war veterans protested. KFOR units, along with Kosovo border police, maintained a low-key presence along the border with Serbia.
    As demonstrations continued in Mitrovica, border police continued the routine job of searching cars and trucks, crossing over the border between Kosovo and Serbia.
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