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Serbia: Could Belgrade Have Done More To Stem Violence?

BELGRADE/PRAGUE -- In Washington, Brussels, and at the United Nations, harsh condemnations were heard for the violence that erupted in Serbia's capital -- including the torching by angry mobs of the U.S. Embassy, where the charred remains of a body were later found. Protesters also vandalized other diplomatic missions, and a number of stores were looted.

The backlash would appear to deal a sharp blow to Belgrade's international standing. Video-sharing websites, television screens, and newspapers worldwide were filled with scenes of destruction from Belgrade. Critical observers charge that Serbian authorities, enraged by events in Kosovo and fully aware of the risks, carefully arranged events so that the drama would play itself out in full sight of the world community, and are far from apologetic.

"Someone didn't want to provide protection to the embassies, and someone wanted to send this picture of destruction to the world," Belgrade cultural sociologist Ratko Bozovic told RFE/RL. He went on to suggest that "an invisible hand appeared to be running the show."

Gordana Knezevic, director of RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service, called it "strange" that the rally was scheduled for late afternoon, rather than the morning hours like many past protests in the capital.

"Obviously they wanted to catch the attention of CNN and other world media," said Knezevic, adding that similar protests are already playing out in other Balkan cities with pro-Serb sympathies, and even in the Montenegrin capital, where public reaction to events in Kosovo was expected to be muted. "It's a kind of orchestrated spontaneity we're seeing -- one day you have Belgrade, then it's Banja Luka, then Podgorica."

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic offered excuses for much of the violence, saying the chaos was the work of a few radicals and emphasizing that the majority of protesters remained peaceful throughout the rally.

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