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SERBIA RIOTS OVER KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.02.2008 13:45 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Police on Friday guarded the U.S. and other Western
embassies damaged in massive rioting overnight in the Serbian capital
in which one person died and 100 were injured.
The streets were cleared of debris amid the morning rush-hour traffic.
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.
Firemen 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 the rioters who set had 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.
Belgrade's medical emergency center said 96 people - a third of them
policemen - had been treated for light injuries sustained during the
night. There were more than 100 arrests, police said.
On Friday, a McDonalds restaurant in the city center was still
smoldering from the fire that torched much of the interior.
Shops were putting up plastic sheeting and glass panels to cover their
smashed front windows. Several sports goods stores and other shops had
been cleaned out by looters leaving display windows completely bare.
Streets were swept clean of debris in the early morning, and
maintenance crews were repairing smashed traffic lights along the
main avenues.
Many of the undamaged stores had hung Serbian flags and pasted signs
reading "Kosovo is Serbia" on their front windows.
The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously condemned "in the
strongest terms the mob attacks against embassies in Belgrade" and
said that it welcomed the steps taken by the Serbian authorities to
restore order and protect diplomatic property and personnel.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said
earlier Thursday he was "outraged" by the attack, the AP reports.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration
of independence, including the United States, Britain, France and
Germany. But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership
has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who
populate northern Kosovo.
PanARMENIAN.Net
22.02.2008 13:45 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Police on Friday guarded the U.S. and other Western
embassies damaged in massive rioting overnight in the Serbian capital
in which one person died and 100 were injured.
The streets were cleared of debris amid the morning rush-hour traffic.
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.
Firemen 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 the rioters who set had 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.
Belgrade's medical emergency center said 96 people - a third of them
policemen - had been treated for light injuries sustained during the
night. There were more than 100 arrests, police said.
On Friday, a McDonalds restaurant in the city center was still
smoldering from the fire that torched much of the interior.
Shops were putting up plastic sheeting and glass panels to cover their
smashed front windows. Several sports goods stores and other shops had
been cleaned out by looters leaving display windows completely bare.
Streets were swept clean of debris in the early morning, and
maintenance crews were repairing smashed traffic lights along the
main avenues.
Many of the undamaged stores had hung Serbian flags and pasted signs
reading "Kosovo is Serbia" on their front windows.
The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously condemned "in the
strongest terms the mob attacks against embassies in Belgrade" and
said that it welcomed the steps taken by the Serbian authorities to
restore order and protect diplomatic property and personnel.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said
earlier Thursday he was "outraged" by the attack, the AP reports.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration
of independence, including the United States, Britain, France and
Germany. But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership
has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who
populate northern Kosovo.