The rally passed without incidents. Participants carried photos of Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin and Bosnian Serb war crimes indictee Ratko Mladic. They advocated stronger Serbian cooperation with Russia and not with the European Union, and voiced their displeasure with Serbia's policy towards Kosovo.
In the Serb-Albanian clashes in Kosovo on March 17-18, 2004, 19 people were killed and more than 900 were injured, several thousand Serbs and other non-Albanians abandoned their homes, and about 800 houses and 35 Serb Orthodox churches and monasteries were damaged or demolished.
The riots occurred after the police of the UN Mission in Kosovo found the bodies of two Albanian boys in the Ibar river, which separates Kosovska Mitrovica into a Serbian majority north and an Albanian majority south, resulting in mass protests by Albanians, who blamed the boys' deaths on the Serbs.
The Albanian protests began in south Kosovska Mitrovica and spread to other parts of Kosovo, with attacks on Serb-populated towns.
In response, several thousand people protested in Serbian towns, setting fire to mosques in Belgrade and Nis.
The spokeswoman for the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, Irina Gudeljevic, told Beta news agency on Friday the Mission found 14 people guilty in connection with the 2004 riots and acquitted one person. She added that one more suspect was awaiting trial.