AUSTRIA:FOUR PEOPLE were arrested and two policemen were injured yesterday when a protest in the Austrian capital against the secession of Kosovo turned violent, according to police.
The protest began when some 6,000 demonstrators gathered on Vienna's historic Heldenplatz in the city centre, police said. Local media showed protesters waving Serbian flags, chanting "Serbia, Serbia" and burning a US flag.
About 600 people then split off from the main protest and began marching towards the US embassy. Violence broke out when they realised the area was sealed off by police and they vented their anger at nearby restaurants and shops, Vienna police spokesman Manfred Simettinger said.
"They threw bottles, stones and cans and smashed a number of shop and restaurant windows," Mr Simettinger said.
"Police had to use pepper spray on some occasions."
Protesters also burned and urinated on an Albanian flag, an observer reported.
Kosovo, mainly populated by ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia a week ago.
Austrian authorities estimate that some 300,000 people of Serbian descent live in Austria, which has a population of around 8 million.
- (Reuters)