http://www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/21279
RUSSIA TODAY February 23, 2008, 9:45 Tensions rise as Serbs push into Kosovo The U.S. State Department is evacuating all non-essential staff from its Belgrade embassy, following Thursday's attacks on the American diplomatic mission in the Serbian capital. The EU stressed that the embassy attacks put closer Serbian ties with the EU under threat. Meanwhile, the protests against Kosovo's independence continued on Friday in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica. In the early hours of the morning buses left Belgrade for the northern Kosovan town of Mitrovica. But six hours later they were stopped by NATO forces patrolling the border that now divides Serbia from Kosovo. They were worried Serbian soccer hooligans were on board - the same ones who attacked foreign embassies in Belgrade on Thursday night. In the confusion two buses managed to get through but were stopped three kilometres down the road by French troops. After a brief demonstration they too were forced back to the border. "We have about 500 students in the buses, and we planned to participate in the protests in Mitrovica together with local students. But the KFOR soldiers won't allow us to cross the border. We are determined to stay here until they let us through," said Branko Kovacevic, Dean of the University of Belgrade. But the standoff achieved nothing. UN forces are only allowing residents of Kosovo to cross border. A group of 60 students did in the end manage to reach Mitrovica, where they joined some 5,000 ethnic Serbs in protest. UN riot police closed off the area and were attacked with stones, firecrackers and glass bottles. However, thousands of students who weren't able to set foot in the land refuse to give up. Their demonstration hasn't yet begun and they returned to Belgrade with the promise to be back.
