Protests over Kosovo independence

Serbian nationalists have been holding angry demonstrations on the eve of independence for Kosovo.

Kosovo's parliament will announce its secession from Serbia on Sunday, nine years after Nato went to war to save the Albanian population from attacks by Serb forces.

Serbs see the province as their historic religious heartland, although 90 per cent of people are ethnic Albanians.

In Belgrade, more than 1,000 protestors gathered with banners, flags and religious icons to protest against the loss of a region that is home to dozens of centuries-old Orthodox Christian monasteries.

"We are all expecting something difficult and horrible," Bishop Artemije, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, told hundreds of Serbs at the St Dimitrije church in the north Kosovo town of Mitrovica.

"Our message to you, all Serbs in Kosovo, is to remain in your homes and around your monasteries, regardless of what God allows or our enemies do."

But Albanian and US flags flew from cars and shops across the territory as its two million Albanian citizens prepared to celebrate the end of a decades-long fight for an independent state.

The US and most EU countries are expected to welcome the formation the new state, the last to emerge from the former Yugoslavia.

Serbia and its traditional ally Russia are likely to refuse to recognise an independent Kosovo.

Brussels has approved the launch of a 2,000-strong police force to take over from the UN administration after a 120-day handover period.

The commander of the Nato peacekeeping force in Kosovo, French Lieutenant-General Xavier de Marnhac, said his troops "will react and oppose any provocation that may happen during these days, whether from the Albanian or the Serb side".

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