Karadzic arrives to face genocide charges at The Hague

Belgrade: Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was extradited to the Netherlands on Wednesday to face the war crimes tribunal at The Hague on genocide charges, despite a violence-tinged protest hours before by thousands of his supporters.

Four jeeps with tinted windows were seen speeding away from the downtown Belgrade war crimes court at about 3:45 am on Wednesday where Karadzic was being held since his arrest July 21.

An official of the prosecution office told The Associated Press that Karadzic was in one of those jeeps on his way to Belgrade airport from where he will be flown to the UN court in the Netherlands. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

Karadzic was captured last week in Belgrade, where he lived under the assumed identity of a health guru, with long white beard and hair, and large glasses.

Karadzic faces 11 charges at the UN tribunal in The Hague, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide.

Late Tuesday night, a demonstration against just such a move turned violent on its fringes as stone-throwing extremists clashed with police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

While most of the 15,000 demonstrators sang nationalist songs and waved posters of their "Serb Hero," a few hundred hard-liners broke away from the gathering and threw rocks and burning flares at police in downtown Belgrade.