Serbia plans to stage a mass protest rally in Belgrade on Thursday against Kosovo's declaration of independence, underlining Serb anger at the loss of their religious heartland.

But analysts say it would be wrong to interpret Serbia's reaction as a return to the virulent nationalism that stoked war in the Balkans in the 1990s under the leadership of the late Slobodan Milosevic.

Although Kosovo is a highly emotive issue for them, the bitterness felt by Serbs does not alter the fact that more than 70 percent see their future in the European Union.

The planned so-called "People's Rally" in Belgrade is very much a government-sponsored event.

Free trains will transport people from across Serbia to Belgrade for the 5 p.m. (4 p.m. British time) rally and schoolchildren are being given the day off.

State television RTS said all media had a duty to be patriotic and express the "national rage" as one newspaper had put it. RTS has been screening Serb movies, including historical dramas, instead of scheduled foreign blockbusters.

TRIGGERED PROTESTS

Sunday's declaration of independence by Kosovo, which has a 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, triggered small and at times violent protests in Serb cities and in neighbouring Bosnia's autonomous Serb half.

Embassies of countries that recognised Kosovo were attacked, especially those of the United States and current EU president Slovenia, and some foreign businesses were stoned or threatened.

Serbia and its major power ally Russia say Kosovo's declaration of independence violates a 1999 U.N. resolution and that recognising it will open a "Pandora's Box" of separatism.

"The anger Serbs feel right now is understandable, it's part of the process that comes before acceptance," a Belgrade-based Western analyst said on condition of anonymity.

"But long-term prospects for Serbia are very good, if the West is patient and lets them go through this difficult time."

On Wednesday, U.N. police backed by NATO peacekeepers reopened two Kosovan border crossings, a day after Serbs burned them down in the first challenge to the authority of the newly independent republic.

In 1999 NATO intervened in Kosovo to stop mass killings of civilians by Serb forces in a two-year counter-insurgency war. The United Nations then took over the administration of Kosovo.