Ramush Haradinaj, the ethnic Albanian former rebel leader who resigned today as Kosovo's prime minister, flew to Amsterdam to stand trial for war crimes at the Hague tribunal.
His wife by his side, 36-year-old Mr Haradinaj waved to 200 well-wishers clutching his picture and chanting his name. "Thanks very much for coming. Bye now," he said, before boarding a German military plane at Kosovo's Slatina airport.
British troops in armoured jeeps, flown in two days ago to reinforce Kosovo's NATO-led peace force, secured the main intersections on the 11 km (7 mile) drive from Haradinaj's home in the capital, Pristina.
He is the most senior former Kosovo guerrilla to be indicted by the court for alleged atrocities in the 1998-99 separatist war against Serb forces, considered a hero by many Kosovo Albanians.
Fears of a violent backlash from supporters appeared unfounded.
His former command zone in western Kosovo was quiet overnight while a few hundred students held a peaceful protest in the capital. German peacekeepers with responsibility for the western zone had set up vehicle checkpoints and taken "extra security measures," a NATO source and witnesses said.
The indictment against Mr Haradinaj is sealed but media reports say it cites the murders of Serbs and Albanian collaborators.
A source in the NATO-led peace force, KFOR, said two other suspects named in the same indictment were also on the flight.