Yugoslav opposition convoy attacked

From CNN and wire reports

MITROVICA, Yugoslavia -- Supporters of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic attacked a convoy of cars carrying his main challenger in the presidential election campaign.

Vojislav Kostunica was not attacked personally but some of his aides and journalists suffered damage to vehicles and equipment.

Kostunica was confronted by some 2,000 demonstrators on Thursday who yelled and threw rubbish and tomatoes at him as he tried to address a crowd in Mitrovica's main square -- a town in Kosovo where tensions between the ethnic Albanian majority and Serb minority has previously exploded into violence.

Supporters of Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party had waited for Kostunica's convoy to arrive in the square.

They blocked the cars and started hitting them while shouting pro-Milosevic slogans. One vehicle was almost completely smashed.

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Kostunica, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia candidate, had begun to speak at the mid-day rally when large sections of the 2,000 crowd began throwing rubbish at his podium.

As the crowd turned on his convoy Kostunica told them: "He [Milosevic] put you up to this - God will forgive you but God will not forgive him."

CNN's Belgrade bureau chief Alessio Vinci said army troops surrounded the area in an effort to avoid further violence in an "extremely tense situation."

Most of the trouble-makers were Serb and many were said by the local Kosovo Serb leader to be from outside the town, he said.

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had stirred controversy last week when he said he would take his election campaign to the ethnically-striven province of Kosovo.

The local Serb leader has directly criticised the Belgrade regime for the demonstration in Mitrovica.

CNN's Belgrade bureau chief Alessio Vinci and Reuters contributed to this report.

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