Even though there are no specific threats against staff members at the embassy spokesman Bill Wanlund said the staff is still in a heightened state of alert. The United States has warned Serbia that it has a responsibility to protect its assets.
“They’d better get it, because they have a fundamental responsibility to protect our diplomats and our embassy and to protect American citizens,” said Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns. “What happened yesterday in Belgrade was absolutely reprehensible.”
Burns said that there were not enough security personnel protecting the embassy when Thursday’s riots broke out. The Serbians are protesting the announcement by Kosovo that it is an independent nation last weekend.
The British and German embassies were also attacked on Thursday, as well as a Nike shop and a McDonald’s. Demonstrators managed to get into one of the buildings at the U.S. embassy on Thursday. According to Burns it was a building that is rarely used and the rioters were unable to get any documents or embassy materials.
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February 25, 2008 at 2:02 am
[...] Romano Them wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe US is evacuating all nonessential personnel in Kosovo following Thursday’s attack on the embassy leaving walls blackened from fires. The building will remain closed until Monday or Tuesday. Ambassador Cameron Munter is staying … [...]
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