Feb 21, 2008 6:03 pm US/Central
Chicago's Serbian Community Reacts To Riots
Violent Riots Broke Out After U.S. Support For Kosovo's Independence
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A fiery protest broke loose in Belgrade as thousands of rioters poured into the streets in Serbia Thursday. The angry mobs attacked the U.S. embassy in Belgrade, setting fire to that building.
They are protesting the U.S. support for Kosovo's independence.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports on the reaction from Chicago's Serbian community.
Ivan Radosavljevic is a Serb living in Chicago. He's been staying informed on the rioting by phone and the Internet all day.
"Now there is a few hooligans throwing rocks and burning vehicles. I feel really bad we don't have a stronger police force over there to handle them out," he said.
While he doesn't condone the violence, he is opposed to the move by the ethnic Albanians, who have moved into Serbian Kosovo, to break away.
"I lived in Florida for about eight years. How would you feel if they wanted one day, part of Florida to be an independent Cuban country?" Radosavljevic said.
Sava Rakocevic is a well-known member of Chicago's Serbian community as an artist, poet and intellectual.
He says he would not be surprised if the recent declaration of independence sparked a war.
There are currently 16,000 NATO troops stationed in Kosovo, and the possibility of some kind of confrontation with Serbia's ally Russia is not being ruled out by some experts.
It was a conflict between Serbia and Sustria-Hungary that led to World War I.
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