Serbs Protest Genocide Arrest Of Karadzic

Thousands of extremist Serbs, singing nationalist songs, poured into the center of the capital Tuesday to protest government plans to extradite ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

Riot police were deployed in large numbers as busloads of protesters carrying Karadzic posters and a large banner with his name arrived in Belgrade from all over Serbia and Bosnia for the anti-government rally dubbed "Freedom for Serbia."

President Boris Tadic warned the right-wing extremists, who were chanting anti-Tadic slogans, to remain peaceful. The protest was organized by the right-wing Serbian Radical Party.

"Everyone has the right to demonstrate, but they should know that law and order will be respected," Tadic said.

The U.S. Embassy predicted up to 100,000 protesters could show up and advised Americans to avoid downtown Belgrade.

In February, the last time Serbian ultranationalists organized a mass rally against Western countries, the U.S. Embassy was partly burned and protesters went on a looting spree, smashing shops and McDonald's restaurants in Belgrade. Those protesters were angry that the U.S. had recognized Kosovo, a former region in Serbia, as an independent country.

In many ways, Tuesday's protest is a test case for Tadic's government, which is much more pro-Western than the one that had controlled Serbia during the U.S. Embassy attack.

The new Serbian president has received death threats from extremists following Karadzic's arrest last week.

Meanwhile, it remained unclear whether Karadzic's lawyer had actually filed an appeal against his extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

"We have not received the appeal," Serb war crimes court's spokeswoman Ivana Ramic said at the end of court hours Tuesday. "No decision has been made (on Karadzic)."

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, which left 10,000 people dead.

Karadzic's lawyer claimed he sent the appeal by registered mail before a midnight Friday deadline. But the postal service said it doesn't have it and Ramic said the court doesn't either.

Under Serbian law, if the appeal is not filed, or if it is sent by mail but doesn't arrive, the court's investigative judge can rule to extradite Karadzic to U.N. tribunal without considering Karadzic's objection.

In a sign that Karadzic anticipated a quick handover to the U.N. tribunal, his nephew Dragan Karadzic was seen Tuesday bringing two large suitcases into the Belgrade prison for his uncle.

Karadzic is still revered by many as a wartime hero for helping to create the Bosnian Serb mini-state.

Radical Party leader Aleksandar Vucic said the protest was against Tadic's "treacherous and dictatorial regime," which arrested Karadzic last week after nearly 13 years on the run.

Officials say the war crimes suspect was captured July 21 in Belgrade, where he lived under the assumed identity of a health guru. His lawyer claims that Karadzic was kidnapped from a Belgrade bus July 18 and illegally held for three days by unknown captors.

Serbia's new, pro-Western government hopes that Karadzic's arrest will strengthen the country's bid for EU membership. Serbia had been accused of not searching for war crimes fugitives sought by the U.N. tribunal.
By Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic. The AP's Jovana Gec and Katarina Kratovac contributed to this report