Serbia says attacks unacceptable and regrettable

by Ellie Tzortzi

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Thursday's attacks on foreign embassies and businesses in Belgrade were unacceptable acts by extremists which do not represent Serbs' feelings over the secession of Kosovo, Serbia's foreign minister said.

"The acts that were committed are absolutely unacceptable, absolutely regrettable," Vuk Jeremic told Reuters in an interview.

"They hurt Serbia's image abroad, they do not represent the collective feeling of the Serbian people. The Serbian government is adamant that acts of violence are not going to be permitted on the streets of Belgrade or anywhere in Serbia."

Rioters ransacked and set fire to the U.S. embassy and attacked other foreign missions after a largely peaceful mass rally against Western support for Kosovan secession.

Jeremic said the evidence pointed to "organised groups of vandals" and "extreme factions" but the attacks were not orchestrated.

"Serbia is in a state of tension, the atmosphere is close to boiling," he said, as the nation faced the loss of a province is sees as the cradle of its nation.

Kosovo's Albanian-majority population has been under U.N. stewardship since 1999, when NATO intervened to halt the killing of civilians in a Serb crackdown on a separatist insurgency.

They declared independence on Sunday, securing recognition from the U.S. and major European Union countries a day later.