Serbs remember NATO bombing

Candles were lit at a memorial for the victims of the bombing

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Thousands of Serbs have marked the third anniversary of NATO's bombing campaign of Yugoslavia.

A rally organised by the Socialist Party in Belgrade on Sunday attracted about 5,000 people, some waving national flags and pictures of former President Slobodan Milosevic.

The demonstrators denounced NATO and waved placards condemning the United Nations war crimes tribunal trying Milosevic in The Hague on genocide charges.

The crowd then swelled to around 10,000 for a protest march, Reuters news agency reported.

"We will keep gathering every March 24 to recall what happened, to thank all those who resisted and to pay tribute to all those who laid down their lives for freedom," said the party's secretary-general, Zoran Andjelkovic.

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NATO launched the 78-day bombing campaign to end Serb repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

The air war forced Milosevic to pull Serb forces out of the province, which is now a protectorate of NATO and the UN.

Some placards called on prominent war crimes indictees such as Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic not to surrender.

The demonstrators marched to the Serbian government building and demanded early elections. They also laid a wreath in memory of those killed in the air war at a complex of Yugoslav Army buildings partially destroyed by the bombing.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who describes himself as a moderate nationalist, said the authorities under Milosevic could and should have avoided conflict with the Western military alliance. But he was also highly critical of the bombing itself.

"If March 24 was a day to celebrate, it would be celebrated today in the capitals of NATO countries. But it isn't. It's not even being mentioned," he said in a written statement.