Letter: Serbs in Britain

Sir: There are several thousand Serbs living in Britain, and some of them have been mounting a protest against the Nato bombing outside Downing Street. That is natural enough. Their country is under attack, and their friends and relatives are in possible danger. And in this country, protests against government policies are generally permitted.

But do the Serbs in Britain understand why their country is under attack? I have yet to hear or read a single statement from any Serb which suggests that they do.

And do any of them oppose and condemn what their countrymen, under the guidance of the regime in Belgrade, are doing to the Albanians of Kosovo? Unlike their compatriots at home, they have ample opportunity to learn from the media what is happening. Do they not believe what they can see and hear of executions, massacres and the mass expulsion of people from their homes and their land?

If they do not, we must conclude that the parallel with so many Germans in World War Two, who simply refused to believe what they heard about the fate of the European Jews, is all too close.

ANTHONY ARBLASTER

Sheffield