Protests staged against Kosovo independence in Belgrade, N Kosovo

BELGRADE, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Belgraders and Serbs in northern Kosovo on Monday staged protests against Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Thousands of people gathered in downtown Belgrade to protest the unilateral independence of Kosovo.

The protest, organized by the Association of Citizens Active Center, was later joined by students of the law faculty of Belgrade University.

Protesters waved Serbian national flags and banners, chanting "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia."

Meanwhile, Serbs in the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica voiced in a peaceful protest their rejection of "the creation of anew quasi-Albanian state in the territory of Serbia," Serbia's official Tanjug news agency reported.

Protesters carried numerous Serbian flags and banners in the Serbian and English languages, saying "Kosovo not for sale", "No giving up of Kosovo,"...

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci declared the independence of Kosovo during an extraordinary session of Kosovo's parliament on Sunday. The Serbian leadership annulled Kosovo's independence shortly afterwards.

Kosovo was a southern autonomous province within Serbia before the breakup of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Albanian-dominated region was plunged into ethnic conflicts in the1990s.

Kosovo has been under UN administration since mid-1999, after NATO air strikes drove Serbian forces out of the province.