The former president will probably still be in the country after plans to extradite him to the UN war crimes tribunal on genocide charges hit delays on Monday.

There were fears that the ultra-nationalists plan to prevent Karadzic's extradition by force. The rally organisers - the right-wing Serbian Radical Party - were bringing in supporters from all over Serbia and Bosnia.

The court in Belgrade dealing with the ex-Bosnian Serb leader's case said that his appeal against extradition had not yet arrived.

Karadzic's lawyer Svetozar Vujacic admitted he posted the appeal at the last possible moment late on Friday, trying to delay Karadzic's extradition until after the rally.

"Karadzic is a Bosnian Serb citizen, so it would be logical that the appeal was mailed from Bosnia," Mr Vujacic said on Monday. "I wouldn't rule out that my appeal grows a beard and moustache before it gets here."

Karadzic faces 11 charges at the UN tribunal, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. He is accused of masterminding the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo, which left 10,000 people dead.

He was captured a week ago in Belgrade, where he lived under an assumed identity.

Meanwhile, at The Hague, prosecutors were studying Karadzic's UN war crimes charge sheet to see if they need to update it before his trial begins. Prosecution spokeswoman Olga Kavran said prosecutors were considering possible new evidence.

Mr Vujacic said: "They (the authorities) are using all illegal means to try send him to The Hague before the rally." "Karadzic and I want to make sure it does not happen."