Authorities pursue Belgrade protesters

BELGRADE, Serbia, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Authorities in Serbia are pursuing rioters who attacked the U.S. Embassy last week, a senior prosecutor said.

Protesting U.S. support for Kosovo's declaration of independence, demonstrators stormed the American Embassy in Belgrade, The New York Times reported Sunday.

"We are collecting evidence and are identifying the culprits," the official, Slobodan Radovanovic, said in a statement.

Police said they had arrested nearly 200 rioters, the newspaper reported.

Diplomatic missions of Britain, Germany, Croatia and Turkey also were attacked in the worst violence to occur in the Serbian capital since demonstrators overthrew Slobodan Milosevic eight years ago.

While the Serbian government has condemned Thursday's damage as the work of "isolated vandals," Serbia's minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, blamed the United States.

"The U.S. is the major culprit for all troubles since Feb. 17," Samardzic told the state news agency Tanjug, referring to the date Kosovo declared its independence.

"The root of violence is the violation of international law," he said.