U.S. outrage as Serb protesters burn embassy

By Ellie Tzortzi

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serb protesters ransacked and set fire to the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday, venting anger at U.S. support for Kosovo's declaration of independence.

A charred body was later found inside, but all American personnel had been accounted for and nothing suggested it was an embassy employee, U.S. officials said.

Riot police -- nowhere to be seen when the attack began -- eventually moved in to disperse the rampaging protesters but Washington was furious.

At U.S. request, the U.N. Security Council condemned "mob attacks" on the embassy in Belgrade.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns called Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic to protest at the lack of security.

"The message was very clear, that the situation was intolerable, that they needed to act immediately to provide adequate security," a State Department spokesman said.

Kostunica, who had earlier addressed a state-backed rally by some 200,000 Serbs against Kosovo's secession, had promised it would not happen again.

There were lesser attacks on other diplomatic missions, but none was entered. Germany said its embassy was attacked, Croatia protested over damage and local agencies said missions of Britain, Turkey and Bosnia were also hit.

Hospital officials said around 150 people were injured in street clashes, including 30 police and a Dutch reporter.

Serbia's foreign minister swiftly condemned the violence by a few hundred "vandals".

Jeremic told Reuters in an interview the attacks on embassies and foreign businesses were unacceptable and regrettable acts by isolated extremists.

"They hurt Serbia's image abroad, they do not represent the collective feeling of the Serbian people," he said. "Acts of violence are not going to be permitted on the streets of Belgrade or anywhere in Serbia."

Gangs also vandalized shops and banks, especially Western ones, leaving a trail of smashed glass and debris. There was some looting.

Serbia considers Kosovo its historic heartland and has waged a diplomatic campaign against the secession of the predominantly ethnic Albanian region, which declared independence on Sunday.

Thursday's "people's rally" from which the rioters emerged was Serbia's biggest since protesters filled the streets in 2000 and stormed the old Yugoslav parliament building to oust nationalist autocrat Slobodan Milosevic.  Continued...