Thousands of ethnic Albanians rallied in southern Serbia Sunday for the release of 10 ethnic Albanian former guerrillas, who were to appear in a Belgrade court on war-crimes charges.
"This is a reaction of Presevo citizens to the spectacular police action to push the Albanians to leave the Presevo valley," Jonuz Musliu, the mayor of a nearby town, told some 4,000 protesters in the border region with Kosovo.
He referred to Friday's arrest in Presevo of 10 former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, accused of carrying out abductions and killings against Serb civilians at the end of the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict. They were to face a Belgrade court on Sunday. Seven other accused are on the run, the Beta news agency reported.
Local officials have denounced the arrests as a bid to destabilise the region.
"I don't believe those arrested were carrying weapons. All this action was an invention of the Serb government aimed to deflect attention from its problems and transfer them to the Presevo valley," Musliu said, vowing to hold daily protests for their release, starting January 5. After their arrest, nine of the men were transferred to Belgrade where they were questioned by police until Sunday morning, Beta reported.
The 10th is being kept in Presevo, where local prosecutors are handling his case. The so-called "Group of Gnjilane" is believed to have kidnapped 159 Serb civilians and killed at least 51 people between June and October 1999, a statement from Vukcevic's office said.