Rioters set fire in U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. Via IHT

I must admit I feel like a cheeseball asshole using the embassy fire as the image for this post, but it’s just so enticing. Much sexier than a photo of the 150,000 people involved in the peaceful cross-party demonstration that took place all day in Belgrade.

I was in Belgrade yesterday (we left early because we heard this protest could get nasty) where a Serbian friend of a friend showed me around the city. I met people sad at the violence of “some drunk high-schoolers,” who said that “this city no longer feels like my own.” My own landlord, a Serbian Nationalist and member of Nikolic’s Radical Party, is at that protest. I walk his adorable dog everyday. We drink Rakia together. I am helping his son get his programming resume together.

I have to admit, I am self-conscious. I am very aware of my accent. I know a lot of people are angry at the US here. We (as a visible part of NATO) bombed the town I live in, even its bus station. I am told I should stay away from the nearest mountain-top because we hit it with a depleted Uranium bomb. And if it weren’t for those attacks, Kosovo would likely not be declaring independence from Serbia now. The fact that every person I have met (fully aware that I am an American) has been nothing but kind to me (even the old man who chided me “America Boom Boom! Tsk Tsk Tsk“) says alot for the understanding of most Serbians.

So, I keep the peaceful 150,000, the fact that no people have been targetted, and my own personal experience so far in mind, as I am shocked and scared and saddened by the actions of a relatively small group of destructive people.