US Starts Evacuation from Serbia

Joseph Borawski, Saturday February 23rd, 2008, 2:28 PM, Global Social Protests Current Event

US starts evacuation from Serbia

This week we travel to Serbia where roughly 1,000 protesters set fire to the United States Embassy in Belgrade following the United States support for Kosovo’s declaration of independence. One person was killed as a result of these riots and more than 100 others were injured. The riots have led the United States to begin pulling out non-essential staff following the incident on Thursday, and since then a convoy of roughly 40 vehicles have left Belgrade carrying American staff and family. United States Ambassador Cameron Munter said “We are not sufficiently confident that they are safe here,” and as such these Americans may be staying abroad for up to 10 days.

The man killed has been identified to have been a young Serbian man originally from Kosovo, who had fled to Serbia after the 1999 NATO-led invasion of the territory. In response to the man’s death and destructive riot’s, Police have arrested 200 people, and the authorities are vowing to bring those responsible to justice. Though the situation has remained calm in the after math according to BBC’s Bethany Bell, Serbian opposition to Kosovo’s declaration is resolute.

Slobadan Samardzic, the minister responsible for Kosovo voiced his opinion that the United States was to blame for the violence, that “The root of violence is the violation of international law” and that “The Serbian government will continue to call on the US to take responsibility for violating international law and taking away a piece of territory from Serbia”. Serbian citizens are also calling boycotts on products and services offered through or from the United States or the European Union. I think that the violent response is a little ridiculous. This region has classically been torn by strife and discord and an independent state of Kosovo would seem to make sense. Check it out here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7260613.stm