Serbia's ultra-nationalists protest deal with Kosovo

(BELGRADE) - More than 3,000 people protested Friday against an EU-brokered deal to normalise ties between Belgrade and breakaway Kosovo, seen by ultra-nationalists as Serbia's tacit recognition of its former foe's independence.

The protest was called by northern Kosovo Serb political leaders who, along with the ultra-nationalists, have fiercely opposed the implementation of the deal.

The accord, reached last month in Brussels, gives some autonomy to some 40,000 ethnic Serbs living in northern Kosovo, who refuse to recognise Pristina's authority.

Like Belgrade, they do not recognise the 2008 unilaterally proclaimed independence of the breakaway territory.

"This is a continuation of the Serbian people's struggle to remain in Serbia and prevent Kosovo from being given up," said Slavisa Ristic of Serb-dominated northern Kosovo town Zubin Potok.

The protesters chanted: "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia" and "Treason!"

Top officials of the ultra-nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia, including former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, attended the rally, as well as several dignitaries from the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has also strongly opposed the deal.

"We do not want to be under Kosovo authority. We want our state of Serbia. We feel betrayed and ask them to give up implementation of the agreement," Milija, a man in his 40s from the northern Kosovo town of Zvecan, told AFP.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he would leave on Sunday for a several-day visit to Kosovo in a bid to thoroughly explain the agreement to the Serbs there.

The agreement on improving ties with Kosovo, aimed at turning the page on the last simmering troublespot in the Balkans, was the last major hurdle in Belgrade's efforts to be given a date to kick off long-awaited EU accession talks.

It has won praise from EU officials and in response, the European Commission recommended the launch of formal negotiations on Serbia's EU entry.

Serbia lost control over its former southern province in June 1999 after a NATO bombing campaign halted late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown against the pro-independence ethnic Albanian majority and ousted Serbian armed forces from Kosovo.