DUSHANBE, July 29, 2008, Asia-Plus – Supporters of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader awaiting extradition to The Hague on charges of war crimes, are to hold a demonstration in the centre of Belgrade on Tuesday evening.
The protest in the Serbian capital is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. (17:00 GMT) and has been organized by the Radical Party with the support of the Democratic Party of Serbia, led by former prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica.
According to Radical Party leader, Aleksandar Vucic, “tens of thousands of people” are expected to attend. The demonstration will be the first major show of force by the nationalists since Karadzic”s arrest was announced on July 21.
Vucic has called for a peaceful march to demonstrate the “unity of all the free people of Serbia.” Supporters are being bused in from all over Serbia and Serbian parts of Bosnia. The last large-scale nationalist protest in Belgrade, against the recognition of Kosovo”s independence by many Western countries in February, ended in looting and an attack on the U.S. embassy.
Karadzic, 63, faces a total of 11 charges at the UN tribunal in The Hague, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. He is also accused of being behind the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica – the worst mass murder since the end of WWII – and the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, during which 10,000 people died.
