Published: February 28, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Crossfire War - Thousands of Serbs Demonstrate in Belgrade
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - Belgrade - Tehran - Athens Watch - Southeast Europe Theatre: Moscow - Tehran - Athens - Belgrade/Pristina - Vienna - Brussels - Warsaw; Thousands of Serbs Demonstrate in Front of US Embassy in Belgrade Against Kosovo Independence
Night Watch: BELGRADE - AKI reports thousands of Serbs demonstrated in front of the U. S. Embassy in Belgrade against Washington's support for Kosovo independence and the plan of United Nations Envoy Martti Ahtisaari, which advocates a "supervised independence". If there is no formal agreement between the ethnic-Albanian majority in Kosovo and the Serbian government in Belgrade, then the UN Security Council is threatening to impose a solution, vehemently opposed by the Serbs. [
AKI]
The Serb National Council of Kosovo (SNV) organized today's demonstration and estimates vary as to the size. The police said there were 40,000 but according to local media and independent observers there were only half that. Banners were carried that said, "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia", "We Won't Give Up Kosovo", "Russia, help". Pictures of Russian President, Vladimir Putin were also on some of the banners while others called for Moscow to use its veto in the Security Council to reject the UN Envoy's proposal.
Milan Ivanovic, head of the SNV, said the U.S. Embassy was chosen because Washington "was the creator of the Ahtisaari plan." All three of the Serbian parliamentary parties and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica supported the protest. Ahtisaari is right now holding last minute negotiations between the ethnic-Albanians and the Belgrade delegation in Vienna in a last minute effort to avoid war.
Night Watch Information Service
www.crossfirewar.com
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