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)
Yes my son, drink the kool-aid, it’s goooood for you.
............and it goes back to WW2 and much, much farther back. I like the Serbs as a people, we had no business there. Those who are paying attention know what Hitler’s Muslim troopers did to Serbs during WW2. If I can find some info on the Finnish team that went in to document the atrocities and didn’t find any I could be more helpful on this thread.....so far...nothing.
Unfortunately the Serbs lost Kosovo in 1389. Mexico undoubtedly wants our southwestern states back but they're out of luck.
as much an act of war as 9-11 or Pearl Harbor
guy, that is insane.
If we had bombed the sh*t out of Tokyo for 2 months, Pearl Harbor would not have been an act of war at all.
Try to remember who started the bombs falling in the first place. We got less than what we deserved
Who cares? I don’t. They all hate each other. If you care — talk to someone else...
Lodge a formal protest if you don't like our foreign policy.
America retains the right to make its own sovereign diplomatic decisions, and arson is not a diplomatic response: it is a criminal one.
What begs the question... why are you posting? Take your hands away from the computer keyboard. Now, smack yourself. Repeat until you are unconscious...
I agree many would. But,in my opinion, that would be the pulling of the linchpin for patriotic Americans.
This won't be Cold for very long at all.
How ironic since you apparently do not understand the meaning of the word.
Says the artless dodger who will not address the substance of my original post:
Any American who supports burning down an American embassy is a traitor.
Period.
I’m posting for the specific purpose of watching you try to justify your support for Muslim terrorists. Sort of like how people slow down for a particularly ugly car wreck.
No, you’re dodging the points being made on this thread.
I am neither surprised or upset by them burning our embassy.
We are on the wrong side in a fight we have no business being involved in. The US is foolish to support an Islamic terror base in Europe.
You are a liar. I call ‘em like I see ‘em. All three ethnic groups are terrible. Most of the posters attacking me (including you) must be Serbian lovers who can rationalize away the fact that the Serbs are as brutal or even more so than anybody else. Now, stop posting to me...
In a bad way or a good way?
The only Albanian I know was a work acquaintance from a year or so back. She was strikingly beautiful.
NO. You look for yourself. I didn’t ask for any comments from you.
Post #200.
It was an act of war. There are many unresolved acts of war around the world including a similar rampage in Tehran.
So, when are you going produce backup for those facts you made up?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.