BELGRADE, Serbia — Singing nationalist songs and waving posters of their “Serb Hero,” thousands of Serbs protested Tuesday night against the government’s plan to extradite ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.
About 80 demonstrators clashed with police on the edges of the gathering, throwing stones at the officers and drawing return fire of tear gas and rubber bullets. Some protesters smashed shop windows, and witnesses reported at least one police officer was injured.
Riot police were deployed across the capital and heavily armed anti-terrorist troops guarded the U.S. Embassy as busloads of ultranationalists arrived from all over Serbia and Bosnia for the anti-government rally dubbed “Freedom for Serbia.” Many protesters carried banners and wore badges with Karadzic’s name and picture. Some chanted slogans against President Boris Tadic and called for his death.
Still, police estimated the turnout at only 15,000 people — far fewer than expected. The last major nationalist rally, in February after Kosovo’s declaration of independence, drew 150,000 people and led to an attack on the U.S. Embassy amid a violent looting spree.
Aleksandar Vucic, leader of the Serbian Radical Party, which organized the rally, called for Tadic’s government to be overthrown.
“Thank you for showing that Serbia is not dead, although it is being killed by Boris Tadic,” Vucic told the crowd. “We will fight for Serbia and Serbia will be free,” he added, setting off applause and chants of “Uprising! Uprising!”
Karadzic spent nearly 13 years on the run before being arrested last week in Belgrade, only a few weeks after Tadic’s government came to power. He is still revered by many as a wartime hero for helping to create the Bosnian Serb mini-state.
Luka Karadzic told the crowd his brother should be tried in Serbia and not at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
“It is still not too late to prevent Karadzic’s extradition to The Hague,” he said.
Tuesday’s protest was seen a test for Tadic’s government, which is much more pro-Western than its predecessor. The president warned the right-wing extremists to remain peaceful.
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 that left 10,000 people dead.
