-- AP Photo

The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland.

Serb police guard embassies after riots

By JOVANA GEC -- Associated Press Writer

(Updated Friday, February 22, 2008, 9:16 PM)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Police on Friday guarded U.S and other Western embassies in Belgrade, a day after rioters stormed and set fire to the American mission during massive rioting that left one person dead and 150 injured.

Pro-Western politicians accused hard-line nationalists in the government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica of inciting the violence in order to demonstrate Serbia's anger at Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday. The EU said Serbia's negotiations to join the bloc would be put on hold.

In Kosovo, authorities stepped up security Friday at the border with Serbia for fears of an influx of militants from Serbia.

A spokesman for Kosovo police said there was no ban on movement across the border but authorities were restricting the traffic into Kosovo.

Streets were swept clean of debris during the morning rush hour Friday, but a McDonald's restaurant in the city center was still smoldering from the fire that torched much of its interior.

Maintenance crews repaired smashed traffic lights along the main avenues, and shop owners put up plastic sheeting and glass panels to cover their smashed front windows. Several sports goods stores and other shops had been cleaned out by looters leaving display windows completely bare.

Rioters broke into the U.S. mission Thursday night and set fire to offices and to police guardhouses on the sidewalk in front of the building. The nearby Croatian embassy was also attacked, and a residential building next door was damaged by flames.

Firemen put out the blazes and found a charred body inside the U.S. mission's consular section. Media reports said the body may have been that of one of the rioters who set fire to the office.

After breaking up the protests, riot police fought running battles in the capital's downtown area against bands of hooligans who looted dozens of shops following a state-sponsored demonstration against Kosovo's independence in which nearly 200,000 people took part.

More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany. But the declaration has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. They consider the territory the ancient cradle of the Serbian state and religion.

Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on separatists there. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since.

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac of the pro-European Democratic Party described the violence as "one of Belgrade's saddest days."

Cedomir Jovanovic, leader of the pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party, accused Kostunica of responsibility for the rioting, saying it represented the best illustration of his "abnormal policies." His party said the rioting could be a prelude to a crackdown against liberals in the country.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters Friday that negotiations on an agreement designed to prepare Serbia for eventual EU membership would have to wait until things "calm down."

"These acts of violence lead nowhere and they cannot help anybody," Solana said. He told reporters Friday as he arrived for a meeting of EU defense ministers in Slovenia.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday unanimously condemned "in the strongest terms the mob attacks against embassies in Belgrade."

Belgrade's medical emergency center said 150 people had been treated for light injuries sustained during the night. There were more than 100 arrests, police said.

Many of the undamaged stores had hung Serbian flags and pasted signs reading "Kosovo is Serbia" in their windows.