UN appeals for calm in Serbia amid protests

The United Nations on Monday called for calm in southern Serbia amid protests there linked to the removal of a memorial local authorities had erected in honor of Albanian rebels. More than 3,000 ethnic Albanians demonstrated in Presevo Monday against Belgrade's removal of the engraved stone slab a day earlier. Brandishing Albanian flags and shouting "Europe, open your eyes" and "Stop the violence," the protesters laid flowers at the site where the monument once stood and demanded the "demilitarization" of the tense ethnically-mixed southern region. The United Nations "is following developments in the Presevo valley and is appealing for calm," said Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. "The UN has consistently underscored the need for international and regional reconciliation in the western Balkans," Nesirky said, adding that "peaceful protests should be allowed to go on." No incidents were reported during the demonstration that came a day after some 200 heavily-armed Serbian special police removed the monument put up outside the city hall in downtown Presevo, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital Belgrade. Belgrade said the monument to former fighters of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (LAPMB) was taken down because it was erected illegally. The six-foot (two-meter) rectangular stone slab displayed the LAPMB insignia in bright red, and has engravings of the names of guerrillas who died in a 2001 conflict. Members of the LAPMB fought Serbian government forces, seeking to free the region from Serbian rule to join Kosovo, which was under UN administration at the time.