Serb protesters clash with Nato troops

Several hundred Serb army veterans protesting against the independence of Kosovo threw rocks at Kosovo riot police yesterday at a border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia.

The Kosovo police were backed by Czech troops in riot gear who stood ready to drive back the demonstrators at the Gate 3 crossing, where burning tyres sent thick black smoke into the air. The Nato-led peacekeeping force KFOR is determined to prevent a repeat of Tuesday's destruction of two other Kosovan border posts by Serbs.

The Serb veterans are army reservists called up to fight ethnic Albanian guerillas in Kosovo in the 1998-99 counter-insurgency war. They gathered in the Serbian town of Kursumlija, about 35 kilometres north of the crossing they know as Merdare, and reached the border in a fleet of buses.

KFOR peacekeepers had reinforced security at the post in advance, with armoured personnel carriers standing by, as well as two fire engines in case of any attempt to burn down the half dozen temporary buildings, as occurred on Tuesday.

Tuesday's attacks caught UN and Kosovo border officials by surprise and the posts were destroyed and abandoned for several hours until S., French and Danish KFOR troops restored control.

The new flag of independent Kosovo has not yet been raised at border posts with Serbia, which has denounced Kosovo's secession as an illegal act and withdrawn ambassadors from Western powers which recognised it.

Showing their anger at the loss of their religious heartland more than 150,000 Serbs protesters gathered in front of the Serbian government building in Belgrade yesterday evening for a mass protest rally against Kosovo's declaration of independence.