Serbs Cry Favoritism, Stage Protest Over Kosovo Arrest

Angry over the arrest of a Serbian militant who allegedly attacked ethnic Albanians, thousands of Serbs blocked roads Tuesday into their part of this Kosovo city and staged mass rallies to demand the man’s release.

French soldiers backed by six armored personnel carriers blocked the main bridge over the Ibar River, which divides the Serbian and ethnic Albanian communities, refusing to allow even U.N. employees to cross.

Serbian leaders warned of more violence if the suspect, one of a group of tough Serbian men who guard the north side of the bridge, was not released. A Serbian delegation was to meet U.N. officials today to discuss the issue.

United Nations spokesman Mike Keats said the trouble started after Dalibor Vukovic was arrested Monday evening on charges of setting fire to ethnic Albanians’ cars June 9.

Hundreds of angry Serbs laid siege to the main U.N. police station in the Serbian area, pelting it with stones until French peacekeepers fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them.

French officials said four Serbs and two U.N. policemen were injured in the Monday night clash. Serbian media put the figure at nine Serbs injured, including a 15-year-old boy who suffered a gunshot wound.

A U.N. policeman was seized by the crowd Monday night but was later released after a local Serbian leader intervened on his behalf, U.N. police said in a statement.

The arrest provoked a strong public reaction here in the largest Serbian community remaining in Kosovo, a separatist province of Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic.

Several hundred Serbs--men, women and children--massed Tuesday afternoon in front of the police station, and speakers claimed the detention was another example of U.N. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization favoritism toward the ethnic Albanian majority.

“The international bad guys are provoking us,” a member of the Serb National Council, Dr. Milan Ivanovic, told the crowd. “We cannot stand idly by and see the Clintons and the Albrights do whatever they want,” he declared, referring to President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Serbs said that unless Vukovic was freed Tuesday, they would attack U.N. and NATO targets here. The U.N. refused to release Vukovic. After hours of meetings between Serbian leaders and U.N. officials, Serbs later in the day barricaded all roads leading into their part of the city with trucks and tractors.

About 1,000 of them staged another rally Tuesday evening, with leaders vowing daily protests.

The unrest occurred while NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and ambassadors of the NATO member states were visiting Kosovo for a look at the situation here, more than a year after the beginning of the NATO peacekeeping mission.