BELGRADE, Yugoslavia

Thousands of supporters of the former Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, have attended a rally in Belgrade, marking the third anniversary of the start of Nato's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

Many of the crowd carried anti-Nato banners and displayed their anger towards the military alliance chanting "Nato are murderers".

Last year, the government declared 24 March a new national holiday, called Remembrance Day.

The Yugoslav authorities say 2,000 civilians, and 1,000 police officers and soldiers, were killed during the bombing campaign.

Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica attended a memorial service at Belgrade's St Marko Church.

Accusations

Many members of Mr Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia had travelled to the capital Belgrade by bus to show their support for the former leader.

"Everything is worse since Slobodan has gone," read one placard, referring to Mr Milosevic's extradition last June to the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague, where he is on trial for war crimes in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia.

Ivica Dacic, an official of Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, condemned Nato's 78-day air war as a "criminal act".
"The bombing is a criminal act against Yugoslavia, and it must be remembered and marked regardless who is in power," Mr Dacic said.

Nato launched the air strikes to stop Mr Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

New beginning

In an interview published on Sunday in the Politika newspaper Mr Kostunica reiterated his opposition to Serb war crimes suspects being extradited to The Hague without a change in the law.

"Extraditions (without a law) would certainly cause tremors not only on political scene but also more dangerous tremors - in the state itself," Mr Kostunica was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, in Kosovo, people had a different view of the start of the Nato bombing campaign three years ago.

Newly elected provincial President Ibrahim Rugova described the anniversary as the beginning of Kosovo's freedom.

"This is the day when Kosovo's freedom began, a new dawning for Kosovo. We all remember the clear night, the holy night, when Kosovo's sky was lit by the light of hope and renewal," he said