A crowd estimated as over 10,000 people chanted anti-American slogans outside the United States embassy in the Greek capital on Friday.

Protesters burnt US flags and threw rocks and eggs into the embassy grounds.

A contingent of Serbs joined the demonstration, and banners emphasised the links between Greeks and Serbs; both nations adhere to the Orthodox faith.

Nicholas Witchell: Cracks in Nato beginning to show

Riot police used teargas to break up the crowd.

The Greek Governnment earlier became the first Nato member to make a clear call for an end to military action against Yugoslavia.

"It is time to return to political discussions to find a political solution for Kosovo and to end the bombings," government spokesman Yannis Nicolaou said.

Italy urges peaceful settlement

In Italy, the lower house of parliament has comfortably rejected a left-wing motion opposing the Nato military campaign.

But parliament accepted a compromise motion, supporting the bombing but calling for renewed efforts to end the conflict peacefully.

Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema said he hoped the air strikes would be "brief".

Greece and Italy are the Nato members with most at stake in the conflict, both being geographically close to Kosovo.

Earlier, the Italian government declared a state of emergency in its southern region of Puglia, to cope with an influx of refugees from Kosovo.

Refugees are continuing to arrive in small boats on Italian shores.

More protests in Skopje

Anti-Nato protests broke out for the second consecutive day in Skopje, capital of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

The authorities responded by banning demonstrations in the capital, as Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski appealed for calm.

On Thursday, a 10,000-strong demonstration in Skopje turned violent, as demostrators targeted the US embassy, and vehicles belonging to international peace monitors who had withdrawn from Kosovo.