KOSOVO:Thousands of protesters have sworn allegiance to Belgrade, writes Daniel McLaughlinin Mitrovica
Thousands of Serbs in Kosovo rallied beneath Serbian and Russian flags yesterday to vow defiance against a declaration of independence by the region's ethnic-Albanian leaders.
In the major Serb stronghold of Mitrovica and smaller Serb enclaves around 90 per cent Albanian Kosovo, people swore undying allegiance to Belgrade and implored Moscow to protect them from the European Union and Washington.
The rallies came as Nato's 17,000-strong peacekeeping force kept a watchful eye on developments following Kosovo's proclamation of sovereignty on Sunday and a subsequent hand-grenade explosion at a UN building in Mitrovica. Five other grenades were found near the UN building and EU mission in the town, but they failed to explode.
Early yesterday, a UN car was destroyed by fire following a grenade attack in the village of Zubin Potok, about 10km from Mitrovica. No one was injured in the incidents, but they cranked up tension in ethnically divided Kosovo, where 10,000 Albanians were killed in a Serb crackdown on separatist rebels in 1998-9, and more than 1,000 Serbs died in Albanian reprisals that followed.
More than 100,000 Serbs fled Kosovo when it came under UN control in 1999, fearing they would no longer be safe in a region that is steeped in Serb history, as the site of legendary battles and some of the most important churches in Serb orthodoxy.
Local Serb officials have vowed to ignore Kosovo's central government and an EU mission which will oversee its first years of independence, and to set up their own parallel authorities and hold local elections to their own parliament in May.
"There will never be an independent Kosovo," hardline Kosovo Serb leader Marko Jaksic told a flag-waving crowd of about 2,000 people in Mitrovica, monitored by a Nato helicopter that circled overhead. "The EU mission is not welcome here, it will not be welcome for a second. They are intruders, occupiers and thieves of our land," he said.
After marching to the bridge over the Ibar river that divides Serb-dominated northern Mitrovica from the Albanian part of town, the protesters were confronted by Nato peacekeepers who guard the span, which has often been a flashpoint for violence.
"If the Albanians try to cross the bridge, we demand the Serbian army use all available means to stop them," Mr Jaksic told the crowd, who sang nationalist songs and carried placards reading "Kosovo is not for sale" and "Kosovo is Serbia, forever".
"America is no longer the only world power," he told the cheering rally. "The Russians are coming. As long as there is Russia and Serbia, there will never be an independent Kosovo." About 800 people protested in the village of Gracanica, which is home to a 14th century Serb Orthodox monastery and is located just 5km from Kosovo's Albanian-dominated capital, Pristina.
Carrying banners saying "We trust Russia" and kissing Serbian flags, the crowd gathered at the monastery, which is guarded by Swedish peacekeepers who are under the command of Irish troops based nearby.
"This declaration [ of independence] is nonsense," said one protester, Dragan (40). "This is America building a Muslim state here. I feel as if someone broke into my house and robbed me." The marches in Mitrovica and Gracanica passed off peacefully, as did other protests in the Serb enclaves of Rani Lug and Strpce.
"It was quiet there today," said John Craddock, Nato's supreme allied commander-Europe, adding that one reserve battalion of troops was on call in Kosovo.
"I have not called for, nor have I been approached, for an activation of any other reserves." The protests unnerved some Albanians, however, particularly in Mitrovica, where they live just across the river from a large Serb population with radical elements.
"I think the independence celebrations went as well as they could have done, without violence," said Valdete Idrizi, whose organisation Community Building Mitrovica employs Albanians and Serbs and tries to forge links between the communities.
"But the Serbs gave a strong message against independence today and I am concerned. My Serb friends and colleagues tell me it is quiet but tense in the north, and there is uncertainty over what will happen next."
The unease was exacerbated by rumours swirling last night that Serb officers had started quitting the Kosovo police force, and that the Serb owner of the premises in which EU officials are based in northern Mitrovica had ordered the mission to leave the building.
"We have told our staff to stay safely at home and not come in for a few days, though ultimately we hope to continue our community-building projects," said Ms Idrizi.
"But the EU and the rest of the international community has huge work to do to prevent a split in Kosovo."