US accuses Serbia of failing to protect embassies
(Recasts with Rice comments and new details)
By Ellie Tzortzi
BELGRADE, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The United States accused Serbia on Friday of failing to protect embassies from attack over Western support for Kosovo's independence, and the EU said such violence could damage Belgrade's prospects of closer ties.
A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said families of diplomats and support staff were being evacuated after rioters stormed the building in Belgrade and set it on fire on Thursday. The ambassador and core staff would remain.
"They had an obligation to protect diplomatic missions and from what we can tell, the police presence was either inadequate or unresponsive at the time," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington.
"We do hold the Serb government responsible. We've made that very clear. We don't expect that to happen again," she said.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the "mob attacks" that occurred after a mass state rally over Kosovo. Serbia blamed the violence on isolated vandals.
A young man was found dead in the U.S. embassy. The British, German, Croatian and Turkish missions were also attacked.
"Things will have to calm down before we can recuperate the climate that would allow for any contact to move on the SAA (Stabilisation and Association Agreement)," European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
Brussels hopes to lure Serbs away from nationalism with the relative stability, prosperity and travel freedom that cooperation with the bloc will bring. Its stance is complicated by its commitment to Kosovo's independence -- declared on Sunday and quickly recognised by Washington and many EU states.
Russia, Serbia's major power ally, said the West should have anticipated a backlash over Kosovo, seen by Serbs as their religious heartland. The mostly ethnic Albanian region had been under U.N. rule since NATO drove out Serbian forces in 1999.
FLASHPOINT
"People who advocated a unilateral proclamation of independence for Kosovo should have calculated the consequences," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
In the flashpoint city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, several thousand ethnic Serbs massed to taunt U.N. riot police on the main bridge after a rally against Kosovo's independence.
A Reuters witness said the mostly young crowd was singing patriotic Serbian songs and chanting anti-Albanian slogans. Some lobbed firecrackers towards the police who were blocking the way to the bridge's southern end, in the Albanian part of the city.
EU officials in charge of laying the ground for the EU supervisory mission in Kosovo had been moved from the Serb-dominated north because of security concerns, an official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
City authorities said about 250,000 people attended Thursday's rally in Belgrade, listening to speeches and songs. Serbia's Interior Ministry put the number at half a million.
Several hundred young male rioters split off, smashed their way into the U.S. embassy and set fire to part of the building, the second time in a week that it had been attacked. A crowd of about 1,000 cheered "Serbia, Serbia" as one ripped the Stars and Stripes off its pole and others jumped up and down on a balcony, holding a Serbian flag.
Some 130 people were injured in street clashes, including 50 police and some journalists, and almost 200 were arrested.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose fiery anti-Western rhetoric has been at the forefront of Serbia's diplomatic battle to keep Kosovo, said the peaceful rally "was magnificent and showed what the people of Serbia thought".
In a statement to state news agency Tanjug, he condemned the violence, saying it "directly inflicts damage to our fight" to protect national interests.
Liberal commentators have attacked him for stoking tension in the hope the West would back off from supporting Kosovo so as not to risk a nationalist backlash in Serbia.
"This was a disgrace, it was hooliganism of the worst kind," said Miroslav Markovic, walking his dog past looted, damaged kiosks near Belgrade's train station. "The government should have been prepared and not have encouraged these people." (Additional reporting by Matt Robinson in Mitrovica, Dusko Mihailovic in Podgorica and Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade; Editing by Richard Meares)
By Ellie Tzortzi
BELGRADE, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The United States accused Serbia on Friday of failing to protect embassies from attack over Western support for Kosovo's independence, and the EU said such violence could damage Belgrade's prospects of closer ties.
A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said families of diplomats and support staff were being evacuated after rioters stormed the building in Belgrade and set it on fire on Thursday. The ambassador and core staff would remain.
"They had an obligation to protect diplomatic missions and from what we can tell, the police presence was either inadequate or unresponsive at the time," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington.
"We do hold the Serb government responsible. We've made that very clear. We don't expect that to happen again," she said.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the "mob attacks" that occurred after a mass state rally over Kosovo. Serbia blamed the violence on isolated vandals.
A young man was found dead in the U.S. embassy. The British, German, Croatian and Turkish missions were also attacked.
"Things will have to calm down before we can recuperate the climate that would allow for any contact to move on the SAA (Stabilisation and Association Agreement)," European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
Brussels hopes to lure Serbs away from nationalism with the relative stability, prosperity and travel freedom that cooperation with the bloc will bring. Its stance is complicated by its commitment to Kosovo's independence -- declared on Sunday and quickly recognised by Washington and many EU states.
Russia, Serbia's major power ally, said the West should have anticipated a backlash over Kosovo, seen by Serbs as their religious heartland. The mostly ethnic Albanian region had been under U.N. rule since NATO drove out Serbian forces in 1999.
FLASHPOINT
"People who advocated a unilateral proclamation of independence for Kosovo should have calculated the consequences," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
In the flashpoint city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, several thousand ethnic Serbs massed to taunt U.N. riot police on the main bridge after a rally against Kosovo's independence.
A Reuters witness said the mostly young crowd was singing patriotic Serbian songs and chanting anti-Albanian slogans. Some lobbed firecrackers towards the police who were blocking the way to the bridge's southern end, in the Albanian part of the city.
EU officials in charge of laying the ground for the EU supervisory mission in Kosovo had been moved from the Serb-dominated north because of security concerns, an official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
City authorities said about 250,000 people attended Thursday's rally in Belgrade, listening to speeches and songs. Serbia's Interior Ministry put the number at half a million.
Several hundred young male rioters split off, smashed their way into the U.S. embassy and set fire to part of the building, the second time in a week that it had been attacked. A crowd of about 1,000 cheered "Serbia, Serbia" as one ripped the Stars and Stripes off its pole and others jumped up and down on a balcony, holding a Serbian flag.
Some 130 people were injured in street clashes, including 50 police and some journalists, and almost 200 were arrested.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose fiery anti-Western rhetoric has been at the forefront of Serbia's diplomatic battle to keep Kosovo, said the peaceful rally "was magnificent and showed what the people of Serbia thought".
In a statement to state news agency Tanjug, he condemned the violence, saying it "directly inflicts damage to our fight" to protect national interests.
Liberal commentators have attacked him for stoking tension in the hope the West would back off from supporting Kosovo so as not to risk a nationalist backlash in Serbia.
"This was a disgrace, it was hooliganism of the worst kind," said Miroslav Markovic, walking his dog past looted, damaged kiosks near Belgrade's train station. "The government should have been prepared and not have encouraged these people." (Additional reporting by Matt Robinson in Mitrovica, Dusko Mihailovic in Podgorica and Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade; Editing by Richard Meares)
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