Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 11 PM), February 4, 1997

    E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
    WWW:    http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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    All texts are Copyright 1997 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 11 PM
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    STUDENTS AND LAWYERS AT BELGRADE POLICE HEADQUARTERS

    Students, accompanied by members of the Association of Belgrade
    Lawyers, attended Belgrade Police Headquarters on Tuesday to ask
    about the people arrested during clashes with the police on
    February 2 and 3. The police said that 43 people are in custody.
    [People can be held for questioning for three days without charges
    in Serbia.] Of those 43, 10 have been charged with minor civil
    disturbances and 1 with a criminal offence so far. Eight detainees
    are students, five of whom have been denied access to a lawyer.

    The students marched to and from the police headquarters without
    incident.


    TUESDAY'S ZAJEDNO MEETING

    Zajedno leader Zoran Djindjic addressed a crowd of tens of
    thousands of protestors in Belgrade's republic square on Tuesday,
    telling them that the protests will continue until Zajedno's
    conditions are met. The demands are that the opposition has every
    seat owed to it according to the Gonzales report, prosecutions are
    brought against the people who ordered the use of force against
    demonstrators and media control stops. The now customary protest
    march in Knez Mihajlova street after the meeting passed without
    incident.


    INCIDENT IN REPUBLIC SQUARE

    ALEKSANDAR VASOVIC for Radio B92: After the Zajedno protest rally
    had finished, a group of local hooligans remained facing the
    police cordon in Kolarceva Street. After the cordon had left, the
    hooligans went to Republic Square where they hurled stones at
    police and other passing vehicles, blocked the traffic and
    harrassed the people waiting at the bus stops. They got into a
    fight with a driver whose car they had damaged which finished when
    a young man, presumably a plainclothes policeman, came to the
    square and fired a volley into the air. Several other plainclothes
    policemen arrived driving in a tram and took 2 or 3 hooligans with
    them, hand-cuffing them to the tram-seats. A specialist police
    unit eventually arrived and dispersed the hooligans, arresting 2
    or 3 of them.

    The police have since had a strong presence in Republic Square and
    Knez Mihajlova Street, frisking all young passers-by and seizing
    films from photographers. Several policemen attempted to get into
    the School of Philosophy and broke some windows while they were at
    it. The student security people prevented the police from getting
    in. The students described them as very angry.


    LILIC SALUTES MILOSEVIC'S DECISION

    Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic saluted Serbian President Slobodan
    Milosevic's decision as sensible and accomodating on Tuesday.
    President Lilic said he believed the decision would be implemented
    as soon as possible, Radio Television Serbia reported on Tuesday.


    ZAJEDNO'S LEGAL TEAM ON MILOSEVIC'S ``SPECIAL LAW''

    President Milosevic's plan to establish local councils in
    accordance with the election results by means of an Act of
    Parliament is unsatisfactory to Zajedno's legal team. Team head
    Dragor Hibor, predicting further legal complications, called it
    ``a boon from the supreme lord of Serbia in the form of a law.''

    Milosevic is ``proclaiming himself an institution,'' not allowing
    institutions to function legally said another lawyer.


    BELGRADE SPS SUPPORT MILOSEVIC'S PLAN

    The Socialist party's Belgrade branch gave its full support on
    Tuesday to the Serbian President's initiative and said that it was
    ``the best legal way of overcoming the complex political crisis in
    Serbia,'' newsagency Beta reported on Tuesday.


    STUDENTS: POSSIBLE STEP TO SOLVE CRISIS

    Dusan Vasiljevic, spokesman for the Student Protest 96/97 said on
    Tuesday that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's letter to the
    Serbian Prime Minister might be a step towards resolving the
    crisis, although the plan it outlines would negate the whole legal
    system. The student protest will continue until the letter bears
    real fruit and until the UofB Chancellor and his student assistant
    resign.


    PEOPLE OF NIS DO NOT TRUST MILOSEVIC

    Slobodan Milosevic got a message saying that the people of Nis
    will not trust him until they see the November 17th election
    results implemented, FoNet reported on Tuesday. The message was
    drafted by thousands of Nis citizens at their 79th protest rally
    over the election results.


    DEMURIN: BOTH SERBIAN GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION RESPONSIBLE

    The spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mihail Demurin,
    said on Tuesday that the Serbian Government would find itself in
    even greater isolation if it continued to use force, Branko Stosic
    reported for FoNet on Tuesday. Mr. Demurin considered both the
    Serbian Government and the opposition to be responsible for the
    recent violence in Belgrade. He concluded that regardless of the
    latest worsening of the crisis, the two sides should embark on a
    dialogue.


    VAN MIERLO ON SITUATION IN SERBIA

    Dutch Foreign Minister and Chair of the European Union, Hans Van
    Mierlo, said on Tuesday that the dramatic situation in Belgrade
    had made the situation in Serbia one of the priorities of European
    Union foreign policy, Mirko Klarin reported for FoNet on Tuesday.
    Mr. Mierlo said that the situation in Serbia was ``almost
    revolutionary,'' considering the scope and depth of the changes
    the country is facing. He reiterated that a full and prompt
    implementation of the Gonzalez recommendations was imperative. He
    warned that any escalation of violence would mean the European
    Union took a different approach towards Serbia.


    MILOSEVIC: WILLINGNESS TO WORK IS HIGHEST PATRIOTIC TASK

    Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had a meeting with the
    management of the Council of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia on
    Tuesday. The trade union representatives briefed the President on
    the current difficulties their membership was facing and urged a
    political solution of the crisis in Serbia. President Milosevic
    told them that ``willingness to work is the highest patriotic task
    in a Serbia that has embarked on economic recovery after the
    sanctions'' and that strikes could only weaken the economy. He
    reasured them that the current problems would be overcome soon by
    a ``continuous process begun by the lifting of sanctions''
    Belgrade state media reported on Tuesday.


    EXECUTIVE BOARD OF BELGRADE CITY ASSEMBLY REMAINS IN OFFICE

    Andreja Milosavljevic, a Serbian minister without a portfolio in
    charge of local self-government, informed the Belgrade City
    Assembly on Tuesday that its current Executive Board would remain
    in office until a new one is elected, the Serbian Ministry of
    Information announced on Tuesday. Belgrade Council's term of
    office finished on Tuesday but the Executive Board got a 30 day
    extension.


    CALL TO MEDIA TO SEND IN NAMES OF INJURED JOURNALISTS

    The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) has a
    duty to report all police attacks on local and foreign journalists
    during the protests to international organizations such as the
    International Federation of Journalists and to the UN human rights
    Envoy Elizabeth Rhen, it announced on Tuesday. NUNS has asked
    journalists all over the world to send them full details of any
    ill-treatment they suffered.

    Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
    Edited by: Mary Anne Wood

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
    WWW:    http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/, http://www.opennet.org/b92/
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