U.S. Embassy In Belgrade Attacked - With Video
Serb demonstrators have broken into the US embassy in Belgrade at the end of a mass protest against Kosovo’s independence.
No-one was injured as the building was closed and evacuated. But it was not under police guard and protestors smashed their way into the building before starting fires and wrecking furniture.
Masked attackers were seen throwing furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices.
The neighbouring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters. Riot police drove armoured jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged the Serbian government to protect the US embassy. He said the US ambassador was at his home and was in contact with US officials.
The Serbs are angry over US support for the new nation of Kosovo and earlier 150,000 people had taken part in a protest rally in the city centre.
They jeered and booed every mention of America and the EU as Tomislav Nikolic of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party accused them of being responsible for the “theft” of Kosovo.
The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading “Stop USA terror.” One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag. Most of Kosovo’s population is ethnic Albanian.
More than a dozen nations have recognised Kosovo’s declaration of independence, which was made on Sunday. They include Britain, the United States, France and Germany.
But the declaration has been rejected by Serbia’s government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo.
Nods to Kurt & LftBhndAgn.
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