Embassy Attack Could Just Be the Start, Serb Politicians Warn

The storming of the US embassy in Belgrade could be a prelude for a crackdown against moderates, pro-western Serb politicians warned today.

The defence minister, Dragan Sutanovac, of the EU-friendly Democratic party, described the violence that followed Kosovo's declaration of independence at the weekend as "one of Belgrade's saddest days".

He said rioters were encouraged by the support of some nationalist politicians for smaller attacks against western embassies and commercial interests in the city earlier in the week.

Several ministers and other top officials in nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's government, and leaders of the ultra-nationalist Radical party, had dismissed those attacks as "minor incidents."

Some 200,000 people attended yesterday's state-backed rally and officials said police were overwhelmed by the biggest march since protesters stormed the old Yugoslav parliament building in 2000 to oust nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic.

But police were nowhere to be seen when scores of rioters - many wearing balaclavas - attacked the US embassy for the second time in a week. A charred body, apparently that of a rioter, was later found in the embassy.

EU officials issued a veiled threat to Kostunica that Serb actions could imperil closer ties with the 27-member bloc.

"The embassies have to be protected, and that is the obligation of the country," the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told reporters at an EU event in Slovenia.

"Things will have to calm down before we can recuperate the climate that would allow for any contact to move on the SAA [stabilization and association agreement]," he said of a preliminary deal on ties with the EU.

The pact was agreed last year but the EU has said it will not sign it until Belgrade fully cooperates with the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The EU was ready to sign an interim trade deal but Kostunica blocked the move earlier this month in protest over Kosovo, which seceded from Serbia on Sunday.

Kosovo had been under UN administration since 1999 when Nato bombing drove out Milosevic's troops to halt a crackdown against Kosovo Albanians.

A McDonald's restaurant in the city center was still smoldering from the fire that torched much of the interior. Shops were putting up plastic sheeting and glass panels to cover their smashed front windows.

Several sports shops and other businesses were cleaned out by looters, leaving display windows completely bare. Many of the undamaged stores had hung Serbian flags and pasted signs reading "Kosovo is Serbia" on their front windows.

More than a dozen countries have recognised Kosovo's declaration of independence, including the US, Britain, France and Germany. But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the Serbs who live northern Kosovo.

Kosovo's Serbs have shown their anger by destroying UN and Nato property, setting off small bombs and staging rallies. Kosovan authorities are increasing security measures on the border with Serbia and restricting movement from Serbia into Kosovo.