Kosovska Mitrovica (Kosovo): Up to 2,000 Serb protesters rallied against Kosovo's independence in the new nation's tense north today, and a few set fire to EU flags in what has become a daily challenge of the country's secession from Serbia.

The protesters gathered beneath a banner that read "Kosovo is Serbia" and listened to speeches by local Serb leaders in the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica as they ve done every day since Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership proclaimed statehood on February 17.

Serbs consider Kosovo the heart of their ancient homeland and the cradle of their Serbian Orthodox faith, and reject its independence as illegal.

Protesters also burned a poster showing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with Serbia s pro-Western President Boris Tadic. Tadic opposes Kosovo's independence but advocates maintaining economic and political ties with the U. S. And other Western countries, despite their recognition of Kosovo's statehood.

Serbia s hard-line Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, in contrast, advocates severing relations with all states that recognize Kosovo's independence.

UN police guarded the main bridge separating the town s Serb and ethnic Albanian sides, and today's protest was peaceful.

Earlier, a senior Serbian official entered Kosovo to visit Serb communities a move Kosovo's deputy prime minister denounced as a provocation.

Serbia's minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, was making a one-day visit today eight days after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia to meet with Kosovo's Serb minority and with the top UN official, Joachim Ruecker.

Source : PTI