BELGRADE, Serbia — Thousands of riot police deployed in Belgrade as busloads of ultranationalists poured into the capital today for a large anti-government rally. Serbia’s president warned the right-wing extremists to remain peaceful as they protest the arrest of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic.
The U.S. Embassy predicted up to 100,000 protesters could show up and advised Americans to avoid downtown Belgrade.
In February, the last time Serbian ultranationalists organized a mass rally against Western countries, the U.S. Embassy was partly burned and protesters went on a looting spree, smashing shops and McDonald’s restaurants in Belgrade. Those protesters were angry that the United States had recognized Kosovo, a former region in Serbia, as an independent country.
In many ways, today’s protest in favor of Karadzic, the ex-Bosnian Serb leader, was a test case for President Boris Tadic’s government, which is much more pro-Western than the one that had controlled Serbia during the U.S. Embassy attack.
“Everyone has the right to demonstrate, but they should know that law and order will be respected,” Tadic said today.
The new Serbian president has received death threats from the radicals following Karadzic’s arrest last week.
Meanwhile, it remained unclear whether Karadzic’s lawyer had actually filed an appeal against his extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.
“We have not received the appeal,” Ivana Ramic, the Serb war crimes court’s spokeswoman, said at the end of court hours today. “No decision has been made (on Karadzic).”
Karadzic faces 11 charges at the U.N. tribunal, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. He is accused of masterminding the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and the more than three-year siege of Sarajevo, which left 10,000 people dead.
Karadzic’s lawyer claimed he sent the appeal by registered mail before a midnight Friday deadline. But the postal service said it doesn’t have it and Ramic said the court doesn’t either.
Under Serbian law, if the appeal is not filed, or if it is sent by mail but doesn’t arrive, the court’s investigative judge can rule to extradite Karadzic to The Hague tribunal in the Netherlands without considering Karadzic’s objection.
In a sign that Karadzic anticipated a quick handover to the U.N. tribunal, his nephew Dragan Karadzic was seen today bringing two large suitcases into the Belgrade prison for his uncle.
The rally organizer — the right-wing Serbian Radical Party — said it was busing in Karadzic supporters from all over Serbia and Bosnia, where Karadzic is still revered as a wartime hero for helping to create the Bosnian Serb ministate.
Radical Party leader Aleksandar Vucic said the protest was against Tadic’s “treacherous and dictatorial regime,” which arrested Karadzic last week after nearly 13 years on the run.
Officials say the war crimes suspect was captured July 21 in Belgrade, where he lived under the assumed identity of a health guru. His lawyer claims that Karadzic was kidnapped from a Belgrade bus July 18 and illegally held for three days by unknown captors.
Serbia’s new, pro-Western government hopes that Karadzic’s arrest will strengthen the country’s bid for European Union membership. Serbia had been accused of not searching for war crimes fugitives sought by the U.N. tribunal.
———
Associated Presss Jovana Gec and Katarina Kratovac contributed to this report.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
