Serbian police protect embassies from rioters
BELGRADE, Serbia — Police today guarded U.S and other Western embassies in Belgrade, a day after rioters stormed and set fire to the American mission during massive rioting that left one person dead and 150 injured.
Pro-Western politicians accused hard-line nationalists in the government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica of inciting the violence to demonstrate Serbia's anger at Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday. The EU said Serbia's negotiations to join the bloc would be put on hold.
In Kosovo, authorities stepped up security today at the border with Serbia for fears of an influx of militants from Serbia.
A spokesman for Kosovo police said there was no ban on movement across the border but authorities were restricting the traffic into Kosovo.
Streets were swept clean of debris during the morning rush hour today, but a McDonald's restaurant in the city center was still smoldering from the fire that torched much of its interior.
Maintenance crews repaired smashed traffic lights along the main avenues, and shop owners put up plastic sheeting and glass panels to cover their smashed front windows. Several sporting goods stores and other shops had been cleaned out by looters leaving display windows completely bare.
Rioters broke into the U.S. mission Thursday night and set fire to offices and to police guardhouses on the sidewalk in front of the building. The nearby Croatian embassy was also attacked, and a residential building next door was damaged by flames.
Firefighters put out the blazes and found a charred body inside the U.S. mission's consular section. Media reports said the body may have been that of one of the rioters who set fire to the office.
After breaking up the protests, riot police fought running battles in the capital's downtown area against bands of hooligans who looted dozens of shops following a state-sponsored demonstration against Kosovo's independence in which nearly 200,000 people took part.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany. But the declaration has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo.
