The United States and European powers Britain, France, Germany and Italy were expected to swiftly give diplomatic recognition, but the European Union as a whole was divided over Kosovo's future.

In Kosovo's capital, Pristina, where cleaners struggled to clear downtown streets after a long night of euporic celebrations, the sense of anticipation remained high.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the former anti-Serb guerrilla leader who wants to move quickly to make Kosovo the 193rd member of the United Nations, was to hold a cabinet meeting as EU foreign ministers met in Brussels.

Slovenia's Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country - like Kosovo a remnant of the former Yugoslavia - holds the EU's rotating presidency, said in Brussels that he understood 'many EU member states' would recognise Kosovo.

'The independence of Kosovo will be meaningful only when it is recognized community, and there is no doubt that that is going to happen starting from today,' the Infopress newspaper in Pristina said in an editorial.

Independence was declared on Sunday in parliament, which is dominated by representatives of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.

Tens of thousands of people in Pristina erupted in cheers as the Kosovo parliament formally voted to break from Serbia - completing the violent breakup of Yugoslavia that stained Europe with bloodshed over nearly two decades.

'We are now an independent, free, sovereign and democratic country,' declared Kosovo parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi, as lawmakers took turns signing the historic document that promises democracy, human rights and respect for Serbs and other minority groups.

The survival of the world's newest country - small, landlocked and economically dependent on US and EU largesse - hinges very much on who its friends will be on the international stage.

It is bitterly opposed by Serbia, which covets Kosovo as the cradle of Serb culture and religion, and by Russia. Many countries facing separatist movements also have reservations.

Demonstrations against independence were expected in a number of minority Serb enclaves on Monday, as the Nato-led peacekeeping Kosovo Force remained on high alert throughout the new state.

In Belgrade, riot police using tear gas and batons dispersed about 800 youths who went on the rampage for several hours, smashing two McDonald's restaurants, and hurling stones and flares at the US and Slovenian embassies.

Hospital officials said at least 50 people including 20 policemen were injured during the clashes.

Serbia's President Boris Tadic declared: 'Serbia has reacted and will react with all peaceful, diplomatic and legal means to annul this act committed by Kosovo's institutions.'

Russia called a special meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, but failed to secure backing for its call to declare Kosovo's declaration 'null and void'.

Back in Kosovo, in the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, four grenades were thrown at buildings housing the UN and the EU mission, said police, but only one exploded and there were no reported injuries.

Some 10,000 people died in the 1998-1999 Kosovo war as Serb forces tried to put down ethnic Albanian separatists. A Nato air war against Serbia halted the conflict and put Kosovo under interim UN administration. -- AFP