Posted on 02/21/2008 11:04:42 AM PST by 11th_VA
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.
Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire.
Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.
The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack strongly urged the Serbian government to protect the U.S. Embassy. He said the U.S. ambassador was at his home and was in contact with U.S. officials.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, 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. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.
But Serbia — and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.
Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.
The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)
and Madeleine Halfwit. Welcome back Cold War.
Where were the Marine Security Guards?
Those Serbs are nuts. If they hadn’t massacred so many Kosovars in 1999, NATO wouldn’t have had to kick Serbia’s ass and take possession of Kosovo. The Serbs themselves are responsible for the creation of an independent Kosovo.
The short answer is no, they can't.
He couldn’t recognize it because UN resolution 1244 was too new to violate. 911 didn’t teach America one damn thing.
Sorry. :)
What planet are you from?
where was the MSG detachment?? The RSO’s office?
Same planet as you. Are you suggesting the Serbs DIDN’T massacre Kosovars???
I feel their pain.
Uh no.
got you thanks for the warning
I find it unbelievable that the media and journo’s are shocked
Fact is we should have had nothng to do with this, clinton messed up getting involved and ethnically cleanse a coiuntry and now Bush thinks it’s alright for muslims to move into a countryu, force out the locals and America comes in and helps to get rid of the natives
we should not recognise kosovo except for it being a serbs country
this is not even worth the hassle, all because clinton wanted to help muslims we are now still flanning the flames.
As for Fox and the other media outlets,
tell the people what is really going on
muslim appeasment
let the serbs have their own country back and let them deal with it as this is not worth getting into a mass stand off with Russia
Otherwise, that poster is more a Serb than he is an American.
Nato bombed and killed more Albanians than the Serbs, and the invading Albanians slaughtered way more native Serbs than that.
At least we don’t commit genocide and have rape rooms like the Serbs did...
I think we (through our impeached President clinton) did commit genocide against the Serbian people! At what point would the illegal slaughter of Serbs and destruction of their infrastructure become genocide in your eyes?
Also, we do have rape rooms, it’s just called “Kosova”!
time to re-paint U.S. Jets with U.N. markings and bomb away....
Clinton and Weasley Clark.
And we’re on the wrong side of this.
FYI: I was in our embassy in Tehran on February 14, 1979 when it was overrun the first time. The Iranian government came eventually to boot out the invaders, but only after the Embassy had been shot up, two FSNs killed, and two Marines wounded.
Our embassies have long been targets prior to the Iranian takeover of our embassy on November 4, 1979 in Iran. After the 1967 Six Day War, a number of our diplomatic facilities were seized and taken over by the host government, e.g., Libya and Iraq.
We should pull out and let them fight it out. It’s none of our business. If we stay, we will be paying for centuries.
A Serbian by the name of Gavrilo Princip was a member of a pro-Serbian group called the Black Hand. Princip was the man who assassinated Archduke Ferdinand. It is in their blood people.
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