Convention of Alliance for Change held in Novi Sad

In front of 5,000 supporters, convention of the Alliance for Change in Novi Sad started at 7.30 p.m. with the old Serbian, pre-communist anthem "Boze pravde". Participants could watch the sequences of the Novi Sad bridges, before the bombing on video beam. When the name of the Montenegrin president Milo Djukanovic was mentioned, crowd cheered and applauded.

Before and after the meeting, large screen in a sports hall showed a mock television newsreel of 15th June, year 2000, which lasted for 20 minutes. Newsreel portrayed Serbia free of international sanctions and indicted war criminals. Leaders of Alliance addressed people saying that citizens of Serbia will have to work hard for changes, which could begin next Tuesday, on rally in Belgrade.

At convention Vladan Batic, coordinator of the Alliance, Dragoslav Avramovic, former governor of the Yugoslav National Bank, Zoran Djindjic, leader of Democratic Party, Nenad Canak, leader of the Social-democratic League of Vojvodina, and Milan St. Protic, addressed the crowd. Mr. Batic announced the beginning of "the peaceful revolution" on the Alliance's rally in Belgrade on September 21st, and Nenad Canak proposed the "invasion of Province's Assembly of Vojvodina" to "get rid of the thieves who sit in there". Ljubomir Madzar, member of the Group of 17 independent economists, and Predrag Markovic, one of the authors of the Stability pact for Serbia, were present at the meeting as guests.

Dragoslav Avramovic, was nominated before the Alliance for Change for the prime minister's post of the interim government. Mr. Avramovic said that the main aims of his government would be the reconciliation, preventing the inflation, reconstruction and the organization of the first free and democratic elections in Serbia. These aims are the same as the one expressed in the Declaration of the Alliance for Change.

Zoran Djindjic said that two million people would have to take part in the protests to be launched next week to show that the country was ready to act for change.

Source: Free Serbia

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