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Serbs Set To Protest Against Kosovo Independence

More than 100,000 people are expected to protest against Kosovo's declaration of independence at a "People's Rally" in Belgrade.

The country's rail service is offering free transport to people traveling to the capital from throughout Serbia, and schoolchildren have been granted a day off to participate in the rally.

Other Serbian rallies are set to take place in Montenegro and elsewhere in the region as tensions and violence mount following Kosovo's independence declaration on February 17.

Speaking to the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee in Strasbourg on February 20, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Serbia continues to advocate a "peaceful resolution to the future status of our province."

Jeremic acknowledged that the planned rally is accompanied by fears of possible violence. "It's a very emotional situation in Serbia," he said. "We expect a lot of people to be in the streets.... We're going to do our utmost to protect law and order and peace, but we're going to have a very tough time doing so. We'll try and do our best."

Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica have appealed for calm during the demonstration, which follows a number of violent incidents this week.

On February 20, police backed by NATO peacekeepers reopened two border crossings that were set alight by Serbian crowds on February 19.

On February 17 and 18, crowds threw stones at the U.S. and Turkish embassies in Belgrade and damaged the mission of Slovenia, which currently heads the rotating EU Presidency.

'Part Of Democracy'

Infrastructure Minister Velimir Ilic, who heads the New Serbia party, said on February 20 that the action was "just Serbian youth expressing their protest" over the "dismembering of Serbia," adding that such incidents are part of "democracy."

"To throw stones and target the American Embassy, well, that happens all over the place," Ilic said. The United States "cannot continue with bullying. So, it looks like it is not bullying to take a piece of a country's territory, but it is bullying to throw a stone at an embassy window."

In a press release issued on February 20 after protests throughout Serbia the day before, the London-based nongovernmental organization Amnesty International called on "the Serbian authorities and specifically Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and President Boris Tadic to urgently condemn attacks on human rights activists and on ethnic minorities in the country."

Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia program director, said that "if the authorities fail to act now, people's lives may be put at risk, as more protests against Kosovo's declaration of independence are being scheduled."

EU special representative Pieter Feith, speaking at a news conference in Pristina on February 20, called for calm, and sought to ease the fear of Kosovo's Serbian population. "I hope also that together with the government we can give signals to the Serbs living in Kosovo that their rightful place is here to stay and that they are most welcome to work with all other citizens for the future of Kosovo," he said.

President Tadic, meanwhile, is expected to meet in Bucharest with Romanian President Traian Basescu, who has rejected Kosovo's independence declaration as illegal. Romania and Spain are among the few EU countries that have come out against Kosovo's independence. Russia has also fiercely opposed independence for Kosovo.

Several countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, have already recognized Kosovo's independence.

Copyright (c) 2008. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org