Sarajevo/Pale  - Several thousand Bosnian Serbs organized Saturday peaceful protests and prayers in towns across the Bosnian Serb entity, the Srpska Republic, in support of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic.

Some 1,500 people marched in a peaceful demonstration in Karadzic's former stronghold of Pale, a village some 20 kilometres south-east of the capital Sarajevo.

Many of the protesters held Karadzic's picture and banners with a message to the former leader: "We are with you!"

Older people filled the local Orthodox Church in Pale, lighting candles and praying for Radovan Karadzic and for his strength to stand trial before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Protests were also held in Banja Luka and other towns of the Srpska Republic.

The nationalist Serb Democratic Party (SDS), established by Radovan Karadzic some 18 years ago, organized protests in support to its first leader.

Current SDS leader Mladen Bosic said in Pale that protests called "March for Srpska" were "not only a protest, but a Christian prayer for Radovan Karadzic."

Slavko Jovicic of the Bosnian Serb War Veterans' Association, whose members also participated in the peaceful march to support Karadzic, said more than 200 veterans were ready to go to The Hague to talk about Karadzic's innocence.

Serbian authorities arrested Radovan Karadzic in Belgrade late Monday, after he managed to hide from justice for more than a decade.

The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has indicted Karadzic for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and severe breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. (dpa)