16th anniversary of NATO's 1999 intervention in Serbia: Radicals protest, burn EU, U.S., NATO flags (video)

BELGRADE -- Supporters of the Serb Radical Party (SRS) on Tuesday staged a protest in Belgrade when they burned flags of NATO, the EU, the United States, and Kosovo.


The protest was held in front of the General Staff building in Belgrade that was destroyed in the NATO bombing that started this day 16 years ago.

Party leader Vojislav Seselj addressed those gathered to say that Serbia must never join either NATO or the EU, "although the treasonous regime of Aleksandar Vucic is working on it."

"We wished to symbolically mark (the anniversary of) the start of the aggression, and the regime banned the gathering. Vucic's regime is like a toothless witch, it would gladly bite, but has no teeth, so there are no policemen here today, while we were ready to be arrested and beaten," he said.

According to him, each regime that has been in power in Serbia after October 5, 2000, was in effect "NATO infantry that pillaged the country, and when they lost strength, NATO sent the Progressive traitors to finish what was started with the bombing."

Seselj was referring to the ruling Serb Progressive Party (SNS), now led by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, that in 2008 split from the Radicals, who are currently not represented in parliament.

The SRS leader added that his party "will never accept the made-up independence of Kosovo":

"We will liberate Kosmet (Kosovo and Metohija) sooner or later, our army will be on the border with Albania. One day we will liberate the Republic of Serb Krajina (in Croatia), we will preserve at all costs the Serb Republic (in Bosnia), and will return Montenegro - taken away from the Serbdom by the West with the help of Milo Djukanovic - to a united Serb state," Seselj said.

His party deputy, Nemanja Sarovic, also spoke to say that by banning Tuesday's protests, Vucic's "treasonous regime" wished to remove "any trace of resistance to the new regime that the West wants to establish in Serbia."

"The fact that the Serbian government hired murderer and monster Tony Blair is a disgrace the Serbian people never saw before," said Sarovic, adding that the image of the ruins of the General Staff represented an image of Serbia "with its one million unemployed people and debt of 26 billion that is constantly growing."

Tanjug quoted Sarovic as saying that "the only way out" for the country was "in a radical change of policy and a u-turn towards Russia."

After the speeches, the rally's participants marched through the central Belgrade streets carrying party flags and flags of Serbia, Russia, and the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
 http://www.b92.net//eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=03&dd=24&nav_id=93586
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•  Hundreds of demonstrators have staged a protest in Belgrade to mark the 16th anniversary of NATO's 1999 intervention in Serbia.

Flags representing the EU, NATO, Kosovo and U.S. were burned as about 700 people attended the rally staged by the Serbian Radical Party in the Serbian capital on Tuesday.

Protesters shouted slogans saying Serbia will not join NATO nor will the alliance's troops will be accepted on Serbian territory.

Vojislav Seselj, currently awaiting the verdict in his trial on war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands, said in a speech to the crowds that his party wanted to display their feelings on Kosovo in a symbolic way and said NATO had bombed the Republika Srpska - one of two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina - and occupied Serbian territory.

He said: "NATO bombed the Serbs in the Republika Srpska and today is occupying and threatening its survival. We will preserve the republic of Srpska at all costs and enable the conditions for it to merge with Serbia."

"NATO killed our children, our civilians, soldiers and police and then occupied the holy Serbian land."

"We will eventually liberate Kosovo and Metohija and our border with Albania," he added.


 Military intervention

NATO's bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which lasted from March 24 to June 1, 1999, was the final phase of the Kosovo War (1996-1999).

It represents NATO's second most important military engagement after its forces began the military intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Aug. 30, 1995.

The attacks are estimated to have damaged infrastructure worth about $30 billion including industrial facilities, schools, health institutions, media houses, monuments, churches and monasteries.

The final number of victims has not officially been released, but estimates have put the number at between 1,200 and 2,500 killed and 5,000 wounded.

The attacks were completed after the signing of the Military Technical Agreement on the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army and police from Kosovo and Metohija, on 10 June.

On the same day, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1244 under which Kosovo became an international protectorate under the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo and the Kosovo Force.

  http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/483209--nato-eu-kosovo-and-us-flags-burned-at-serbia-rally

24/3/15

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• video: NATO bombardovanje Srbije/NATO Bombing of Serbia