Violence erupts on Kosovo-Serbia border

[AvarAllahNoor]

BELGRADE (AFP) — Violence flared on the Kosovo-Serbia border on Thursday, when several hundred former Serbian army reservists angered by Kosovo's independence attacked police with stones and burning tyres.

As Italy joined other major European powers in recognising Kosovo and Serbs poured into Belgrade for a rally to protest against the independence declaration, the group attacked around 100 Kosovo riot police at the southern Serbian border crossing point of Merdare.

Serbian police estimated around 300 reservists were involved in the assault.

The violence was the latest in a series of incidents that followed Sunday's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament -- a move vehemently opposed by Belgrade.

Thick black plumes of smoke billowed from the border crossing and a NATO helicopter hovered overhead after the attack by the reservists, which lasted 20 minutes until they retreated.

The reservists, civilians who once served in the Serbian army, had crossed a Serbian checkpoint unhindered.

In another incident, a UN-run court was stoned overnight in the Serb-populated half of the tense northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, police said.

On Tuesday, two other border crossing points at Banja and Jarinje were closed for 24 hours after they were ransacked and torched by at least 1,000 Serbs from Kosovo and Serbia.

The commander of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR), General Xavier Bout de Marnhac, said leaders of Kosovo's minority Serb community were responsible for the incident.

Hardline Kosovo Serb political leader Milan Ivanovic hit back, calling KFOR "a servant of US interests" and accusing foreign forces of turning "Kosovo into a concentration camp."

The border attack was the most violent reaction to the unilateral break by Kosovo and marked the first intervention by KFOR -- made up of 17,000 troops from more than 30 countries -- since the independence declaration.

Meanwhile, convoys of buses and trains ferried people to Belgrade for a "Kosovo is Serbia" protest in front of the old Yugoslav parliament, which was expected to draw hundreds of thousands demonstrators.

[AvarAllahNoor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Id21gvBl0k

US Embassy burnt down. - Riots.

[Moon*Light]

It was clear from the beginning that the Serbians won't take it well.

[AvarAllahNoor]

Yup. 500 Years of history. Nobody can give a part up just like that.

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[AvarAllahNoor]

Embassy attack the start, Serb politicians warn

The storming of the US embassy in Belgrade could be a prelude for a crackdown against moderates, pro-western Serb politicians warned today.

The defence minister, Dragan Sutanovac, of the EU-friendly Democratic party, described the violence that followed Kosovo's declaration of independence at the weekend as "one of Belgrade's saddest days".

He said rioters were encouraged by the support of some nationalist politicians for smaller attacks against western embassies and commercial interests in the city earlier in the week.

Several ministers and other top officials in nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's government, and leaders of the ultra-nationalist Radical party, had dismissed those attacks as "minor incidents."

Some 200,000 people attended yesterday's state-backed rally and officials said police were overwhelmed by the biggest march since protesters stormed the old Yugoslav parliament building in 2000 to oust nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic.

But police were nowhere to be seen when scores of rioters - many wearing balaclavas - attacked the US embassy for the second time in a week. A charred body, apparently that of a rioter, was later found in the embassy.

[AvarAllahNoor]

*BREAKING NEWS*

Bosnia Serbs to Secede if Independent Kosovo Gains Recognition

The Parliament of the Republic of Srpska, the Serbian-populated part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, decided Thursday night it would secede if Kosovo gained wider international recognition.

According to the Parliament's decision independent Kosovo was precedent in recognizing the right of self-determination.

"Kosovo's self-declared independence created not just a dangerous precedent but also a new right, practice and principles", the PM of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik said, and added: "Europe has a double standard policy regarding Kosovo and Bosnia."

THIS IS GETTING MESSY!

[Cabdullahi]

It looks like serbia are messing up americas plans

[AvarAllahNoor]

The Republic of Srpska in the Bosnian federation (colored in red) is ready to secede if independent Kosovo gains wider recognition

[AvarAllahNoor]

It looks like serbia are messing up americas plans

Yuppity Yip Yap Yup! :D

Russia has said' it would use BRUTE force if neccessary. And China will assist!

*Goes to the nearest bunker*

[AvarAllahNoor]

They thought Serbs would just say 'Meh we don't care take it' They thought wrong! - Nobody would give way 500 + years of history!

[Keltoi]

The U.S. will almost always back any call for independence. It would by hypocritical for them not to. We are nation formed by declaring independence.

[Whatsthepoint]

The U.S. will almost always back any call for independence. It would by hypocritical for them not to. We are nation formed by declaring independence.

In the 90's the US opposed the breakup of Yugoslavia.

[Gator]

The U.S. will almost always back any call for independence. It would by hypocritical for them not to. We are nation formed by declaring independence.

Didn't the South at one time try to declare independence?

The russians are afraid (and they should be) that recognition would embolden sepratists in their own county. The chinese too with their oppression in Tibet and threats against Taiwan.

[Whatsthepoint]

Didn't the South at one time try to declare independence?

The russians are afraid (and they should be) that recognition would embolden sepratists in their own county. The chinese too with their oppression in Tibet and threats against Taiwan.

On the other hand, Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Kosovo. I guess it's because it was Turks who brought Islam to that part of Europe...

[AvarAllahNoor]

Didn't the South at one time try to declare independence?

The russians are afraid (and they should be) that recognition would embolden sepratists in their own county. The chinese too with their oppression in Tibet and threats against Taiwan.

Who's oppressed in Ottawa in Canada...?

[AvarAllahNoor]

The U.S. will almost always back any call for independence. It would by hypocritical for them not to. We are nation formed by declaring independence.

Texas...? Alaska...?

[Whatsthepoint]

Who's oppressed in Ottawa in Canada...?

You see, there are some nasty Frenchies in the region called Quebec who feel the federation tehy form with the English speaking Canada is an utter abomination...

[Gator]

Who's oppressed in Ottawa in Canada...?

Hi, wasn't talking about Canada though WTP had a good point.

I was responding to Keltoi's point about independence America being founded on independence. I was pointing out that in the 1860's the Southern US states announced independence which was opposed by the north.

It led to the Civil War.

OK?

[AvarAllahNoor]

You see, there are some nasty Frenchies in the region called Quebec who feel the federation tehy form with the English speaking Canada is an utter abomination...

Really? and you know this first hand? Sources would be great. Merci Beaucoup...

[Whatsthepoint]

Really? and you know this first hand? Sources would be great. Merci Beaucoup...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_...ignty_movement

[AvarAllahNoor]

Hi, wasn't talking about Canada though WTP had a good point.

I was responding to Keltoi's point about independence America being founded on independence. I was pointing out that in the 1860's the Southern US states announced independence which was opposed by the north.

It led to the Civil War.

OK?

I responded to a post in which you only highlighted Russia & China. (Negatives)

[AvarAllahNoor]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_...ignty_movement

I fail to detect the bit about French hating the English speaking Candians.:hmm:

[Whatsthepoint]

I fail to detect the bit about French hating the English speaking Candians.:hmm:

My post was not meant to be serious. And anyway, I did not say the French hate the English, I said they hate the union with the English.them.

[Keltoi]

Didn't the South at one time try to declare independence?

The russians are afraid (and they should be) that recognition would embolden sepratists in their own county. The chinese too with their oppression in Tibet and threats against Taiwan.

As I said, almost always. :D

[AvarAllahNoor]

Serb official blames U.S. for violence

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo - Several thousand Serbs chanting "Russia, Vladimir Putin!" and "Kosovo is Serbia!" protested peacefully Saturday in the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica and a Serb enclave in the south in a sixth day of demonstrations against Kosovo's independence.

In a sign that Serbia is fast drifting away from the West and toward Russia, which is backing its fierce resistance of Kosovo's secession, hard-line Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica condemned anew the U.S. and other nations that have recognized Kosovo as an independent state.

"If the United States stick to its present position that the fake state of Kosovo exists ... all responsibility in the future will be on the United States," Kostunica adviser Branislav Ristivojevic said in a statement.

[AvarAllahNoor]

Serbian settlers plan partition of Kosovo

Kosovo, the world's newest state, is facing a partition of its territory only a week after it unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.


Serbs in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica demonstrate against Kosovo's independence
The mostly Serb-populated northern region around the divided town of Mitrovica, next to the Serbian border, has begun preparing a de facto secession from the newborn country that Serb officials consider "illegal".

On Friday, the bridge on the Ibar River that divides the Albanian and the Serb parts of Mitrovica was closed to traffic, guarded by UN police and Nato on one side, and Serb strongmen on the other.

At the same time, KFOR, the Nato-led peacekeeping force, sealed the border to Serbia, after angry mobs torched border crossings.

"This is a beginning of a secession of the northern part of Kosovo. I fear it will lead to attacks on the remaining Albanians living in northern Mitrovica to force them to flee across the river.