Bomb threat at Serb president's office

A man with two hand grenades threatens to blow up himself at the entrance to the office of Serbian President Boris Tadic in Belgrade.

NOTE: Natural sound only - no reporter narration

No information were given on whether Tadic was in the building. Police on Thursday afternoon (May 21, 2009) identified the man as 57-year-old Dragan Maric, and said he had been isolated in the presidential building and negotiations were ongoing.

Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac has arrived on the scene, as well as a police team armed with sub-machine guns and flak jackets. The safety pin on one of the two grenades had been pulled out.

Maric, who arrived at the entrance of the president's office just before 1000 GMT, owns a private company and has already been known to police for an 80-day hunger strike in 2004, an offer to sell his kidney and a threat to set himself on fire.

The bomb threat comes a day after Tadic met Joe Biden, U.S, Vice President, who left Belgrade for Pristina, Kosovo on Thursday for the last leg of his Balkan tour.