Serbs blame Washington for violence
Serbia’s hard-line leaders on Saturday called the U.S. “the main culprit” in the violence that has broken out since Kosovo declared independence.
Several thousand Serbs chanting, “Kosovo is Serbia!” and “Russia, Vladimir Putin!” protested peacefully in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, the sixth day of demonstrations against Kosovo’s break with Serbia. Russia backs Serbia’s fierce resistance to Kosovo’s secession.
On Thursday night, protesters angered by Washington’s recognition of Kosovo set fire to the U.S. Embassy in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The U.S. and the European Union responded by demanding that Serbia protect foreign embassies.
“The United States is the main culprit . . . for all those violent acts,” Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic said in Belgrade.
Other Serbian leaders have called for calm after the riots. But an aide to hard-line Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said any future violence also would be blamed on the United States.
Kosovo’s minority Serbs have staged protests daily since the territory’s ethnic Albanian leadership proclaimed independence Feb. 17.
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