Bosnian Serb Students Rally Against Muslims

Bosnian Serb students pelted U.S. peacekeepers with eggs and stoned Muslim-owned businesses Thursday to press their demand that Bosnian Muslims leave this ethnically tense city.

Two people were injured and 10 arrested, Police Chief Dusko Kokanovic said. He urged authorities to declare a state of emergency in Brcko, where the students demonstrated for a third straight day.

Hundreds of Bosnian Serbs--high school and college students--ran through the streets chanting the name of indicted war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic and shouting, “This is Serbia!”

Kokanovic said that five houses were damaged and that vandalism, looting and attacks on police were continuing.

U.S. troops from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization base outside town set up roadblocks, checking all vehicles entering Brcko for weapons and explosives. An American convoy was blocked by the crowd and pelted with eggs, tomatoes and bananas.

Local police received reinforcements from both parts of ethnically divided Bosnia-Herzegovina. Special units of NATO-led riot police, mostly Italian Carabinieri, also arrived.

Protests began Tuesday after Bosnian Serb students beat up a Bosnian Muslim student last week. Serbian and Muslim students share high school buildings but attend classes in separate shifts.

After the beating, Muslims demanded better security and Bosnian Serbs demanded separate schools.