Radovan Karadzic remained unrepentant about his alleged war crimes as Serbian ultra-nationalists opposed to his extradition to The Hague attacked police and smashed shop windows during a protest rally in central Belgrade last night.

Dr Karadzic was proud of his record running the breakaway Bosnian Serb republic during the bloody ethnic conflict of the 1990s, his brother said, adding that he had tried to help people from all religious backgrounds then and in his later guise as a New Age healer.

Last night’s rally attracted about 15,000 people, fewer than organisers had hoped, and turned violent when 100 hooligans, said to be supporters of Red Star Belgrade football club, broke away to hurl stones, flares and firecrackers at riot police.

The police responded with tear gas and the centre of Belgrade was soon turned into a wasteland, its streets strewn with glass and other debris, while more than 40 people were injured including a Spanish TV cameraman.

Demonstrators were brought into Belgrade from across Serbia and the autonomous Serb area of Bosnia — one of Dr Karadzic’s divisive legacies — hours after seven Serb soldiers in Bosnia were convicted of genocide for their part in the Srebrenica massacre.

A group of soccer thugs were seen carrying a huge photo of Dr Karadzic and a banner addressed to Serbia’s pro-Western leadership saying “We will kill you all”.

Boris Tadic, the pro-EU President of Serbia, appealed for calm before the rally. He has received death threats after the arrest of Dr Karadzic, not least from a Radical MP who compared him with Zoran Djindjic, Mr Tadic’s predecessor as head of the Democratic Party, who was assassinated in 2003 in revenge for the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic, the wartime President.

Speaking to the crowd before the trouble, Aleksandar Vucic, deputy leader of the Radical Party, which organised the gathering, said: “Thank you for showing that Serbia is not dead, although it is being killed by Boris Tadic. Thieves and bandits are ruling Serbia.”

Although the Radicals have the second-largest number of seats in the Serb parliament, the low turnout last night suggests that only their core supporters oppose the decisive direction taken by Serbia towards the EU and away from Russian and hardline nationalist influence.

The arrest of the remaining war crimes suspects is the main barrier in the way of formal talks on Serbia joining the EU and with the capture of Dr Karadzic just two, including Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, remain at large.

One demonstrator, Milovan Ivanovic, a 63-year-old lawyer from Uzice, 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Belgrade, was holding a picture of Dr Karadzic. He said: “Radovan Karadzic is innocent. When you are the boss of a big company, you don’t know what every employee is doing. I am convinced that Radovan Karadzic did not know everything that his troops were doing in the battlefield.”

Another protester, Miogdrag Milankovic, a 64-year-old pensioner from Zitoradja, 250 kilometers south of Belgrade, said: “I am convinced he is not guilty. There is no justice in The Hague because they are letting Bosnian and Albanian criminals go free and only convicting Serbs.”

Dr Karadzic faces genocide charges in connection with Srebrenica and with the 44-month siege of Sarajevo in which 12,000 people died.

“The indictment was written with all the worst things that could be put into it,” said Luka Karadzic after visiting his brother in his cell at the fortified court where he is being held pending his appeal.

“He is proud of everything that happened. This is not a question about Radovan Karadzic and his destiny. The question is what he did for the Serbian people and what he did for the other side, for Muslims and Croats.”

Dr Karadzic spent at least the last two of his 13 years on the run living increasingly openly in Belgrade in the disguise of bearded alternative healer Dr Dragan Dabic.

His brother, Luka, added: “He is a doctor, he is a humanist, he is a poet, he is an intellectual, a man who helped many Muslims and Croats and Serbs. Even in his second identity as Dr Dabic he treated members of every nationality.”

Dr Karadzic’s appeal still had not been received by the court yesterday, even though the deadline passed last Friday. His lawyer maintained that he posted it in an attempt to delay extradition until after last night’s demonstration.

Under Serbian law, if the appeal is not filed, or if it is sent by mail but does not arrive, the judge can rule to extradite Dr Karadzic without considering his objection.

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