At least 10 people were injured and about 100 were arrested in Belgrade on Sunday evening as demonstrators and police clashed at a rally of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) which drew thousands of people supporting Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb wartime military leader arrested in Serbia on Thursday on war crimes charges.
Rioting began towards the end of the rally as demonstrators started hurling stones and bottles at the police, shouting, "Go to Kosovo". After the police responded, the clashes spread to nearby streets in the town centre. One group of demonstrators headed for Knez Milos Street, where embassies are located, but police stopped them.
Serbian Police Director Milorad Veljovic said police were in control of the situation and that they would not allow any rioting.
Earlier during the rally, SRS leaders and other speakers accused the incumbent government of treason for arresting Mladic, who had been on the run for 16 years, and pushed for ending cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Mladic's son Darko said his father was not a war criminal but a fighter for the freedom of his people and that he had not ordered the killing of civilians and prisoners.
A letter from SRS president Vojislav Seselj, who is in detention in The Hague, was read out. In it, he said Serbian President Boris Tadic would have to answer for Mladic's arrest.
Before the rally, about 3,000 police were deployed in Belgrade's downtown streets and around all important institutions.
