Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 3 PM), January 25, 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 10 PM
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    BAJNA BASTA TELEVISION LOSES FREQUENCY

    Bajna Basta's Channel Four television has been banned from
    broadcasting on its frequency on the grounds that the station's
    transmissions jam military and police signals in the area. The
    station's new management, appointed after Zajedno won local
    government elections in Bajna Basta, had been reporting on
    protests in Belgrade and other cities in Serbia. The Serbian
    Renewal Movement (SPO) demanded on Saturday that the unobstructed
    operation of Channel Four be restored and that it be given another
    frequency to avoid the alleged jamming of military and police
    signals. The SPO has also warned that the Socialist regime is
    using media takeovers and banning to deliberately provoke unrest
    in cities held by the opposition .


    SIXTY-FIFTH DAY OF STUDENT PROTEST

    Belgrade University students on Saturday entered the sixth day of
    their stand-off with police in downtown Kolarceva Street. Shortly
    before midnight on Friday, the students' sixty-fifth day of
    protest was celebrated in front of the riot squad cordon with an
    enormous cake bearing the slogans ``We Shall Not Crawl'' and
    ``Democracy.''

    Members of the Belgrade Association of Lawyers who joined the
    standoff announced that they would bring legal suits against all
    members of the police who had used force against citizens.
    Belgrade District Court Judge Miroslav Todorovic read the text of
    a legal suit he has brought against Serbian Prime Minister Mirko
    Marjanovic. The document accuses Marjanovic of ``curbing freedom
    of movement and of speech by the use of force.''

    Belgrade librarians formed their own cordon against the police,
    hurling books over the police lines, shouting ``books will break
    the cordon.''  The friendly relations which had previously existed
    between protesters and the front line of police have cooled, since
    police were given orders not to engage in conversations with
    citizens. Friday night passed without incident, and students were
    still determined on Saturday to outlast the police cordon which
    has been blocking them from marching on the streets of their city.


    BELGRADE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL FACULTY BACKS STUDENTS

    News agency Beta reported on Saturday that the staff of the
    Belgrade Medical Faculty had voted unanimously on Thursday to
    support all student demands.


    FORMER CHANCELLOR: UNIVERSITY COUNCIL TOOL OF THE GOVERNMENT

    Former Belgrade University chancellor, Rajko Vracar, in an
    interview for the Belgrade daily Nasa Borba, claimed that the
    present Belgrade University Council was a tool of a one-party
    government. He said that the University Act, passed in July 1992,
    abolished any autonomy of the university by prescribing that half
    the Council members be representatives of the state. At present
    these are top state and socialist officials who appointed the
    current chancellor in pursuit of their hard-line policy. He
    emphasised that students have been denied any voice in decisions
    affecting the university.


    KRAGUJEVAC POLICE ACTIONS ``SPONTANEOUS''

    A delegation of Student Protest in Kragujevac visited Kragujevac
    Police Department on Friday, seeking information as to who had
    ordered violence against protesters at a January 23 protest. They
    were told that the police intervention had erupted
    ``spontaneously'' following an incident in which a policeman was
    struck on the face with a chain by a Zajedno member. Radojica
    Savkovic, a lecturer at the Kragujevac University School of
    Economy, who was present when the student delegation met police
    officials, commented that the police action was retaliation for
    the demonstrations in front of Radio Television Kragujevac.


    CROAT REFUGEES

    President of the Croat Refugee Association Mato Simic claimed in
    an interview with Croat daily Vjesnik on Saturday, that Croat
    refugees were dissatisfied with Croat Government regulations
    permitting Serbs from other parts of Croatia to vote in Eastern
    Slavonia in the forthcoming elections. Mr Simic warned that this
    could result in a demographic change after the elections which
    could allow autonomy of the region. He added that Serb refugees in
    the region could decide to stay there and stressed that this would
    cause serious difficulties when Croat refugees began to return to
    their homes.


    B92 INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

    Radio B92 is organizing an international competition for the best
    photography of the CIVIL PROTEST 1996/97. Any photographs taken
    during the protests in any Serbian city since November 17 may be
    entered. Entry will open as long as the protests continue.
    Selected photographs will be published in a high quality
    publication which will include texts about the Civic Protest by
    various intellectuals writing about different aspects of the
    protests, such as noise, photography, media, linguistic analysis
    of protest banners, street theatre and marches. All texts will be
    transleted into English. The book will be lunched at Belgrades
    Cinema REX, with an exhibition of the the best photographs as well
    as material from the protests.

    The prizes for the best photographies will be:

        1. Kodak digital photocamera DC-50

        2. Kodak digital photocamera DC-40

        3. Kodak digital photocamera DC-20

        4. A home page on the Internet

    All entrants whose photographs are published will receive a free
    copy of the book. Intending entrants should forward their entries
    to:

    Radio B92, Photo Competition
    Makedonska 22/V
    11000 Beograd
    Yugoslavi a

    Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
    Edited by: Steve Agnew

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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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