Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 6 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 6 PM
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    DAILY PRESS ANNOUNCE DEAL BETWEEN SERBIAN GOVERNMENT AND SESELJ

    Belgrade dailies 'Dnevni Telegraf' and 'Nasa Borba' reported on
    Saturday that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had announced a
    deal between the leftist parties and the ``patriotic forces'' of
    the Serbian Radical Party (SRS).

    Both dailies claimed that Vojislav Seselj, leader of the SRS, had
    asked for the post of Interior Minister, and that his party
    control the Ministry of Justice.

    According to those papers, Serbian Prime Minister, Mirko
    Marjanovic would retain his post, while New Democracy would not
    only be expelled from the Government but be used as an example of
    the Government's clamp-down on crime in Serbia.


    KNEZEVIC: MILOSEVIC IS A NATURAL DISASTER

    Ratko Knezevic, Head of the Montenegrin Trade Mission to the US
    and Special Advisor to the Montenegrin Prime Minister, stated in
    an interview for Belgrade daily 'Nasa Borba' that Montenegro was
    at a crossroads as to whether to stay in the FR Yugoslavia or to
    secede.

    Mr. Knezevic said that Montenegro would be forced to seek
    independence if the present situation did not change. According to
    Mr. Knezevic, Montenegro would remain within the FR Yugoslavia on
    the condition that relations with ``rational people in Belgrade''
    -- i.e. the opposition -- were established.


    Mr. Knezevic continued that ``if that dictator continues to rule
    Serbia as he has done up until now, Montenegro will have no choice
    but to protect its borders and leave such a country.'' Asked
    whether this was his personal opinion or a position backed by the
    Montenegrin leadership, Mr. Knezevic replied that he would not
    hold his two posts if he and the Montenegrin Prime Minister were
    not of the same opinion.


    POLICE INTERVENE IN BELGRADE

    Police intervention against demonstrators continued on Friday
    during the prime time news bulletin of state television at 19.30.

    Physical attacks on elderly people were also reported. Apart from
    using batons, the police were reported to have driven their
    vehicles into the marching citizens on several occasions.


    ZAJEDNO: REGIME DRAWING SWASTIKAS

    The information service of the opposition coalition Zajedno stated
    on Saturday that groups of people dressed in similar clothing were
    observed in central Belgrade drawing swastikas together with
    Zajedno signs on the walls of buildings.

    ``Faced with the fact that neither Belgrade nor Serbia believes in
    the lies of state television anymore, the regime has decided to
    write its lies out on the walls of buildings, thus defacing our
    city,'' Zajedno commented.


    JOURNALISTS FROM 'POLITIKA' FORM THEIR OWN CORDON

    Some 50 journalists from 'Politika' joined students facing off
    police in Kolarceva Street, to form their own cordon in front of
    police on Saturday. The journalists expressed their full support
    for the civic protests and also their disagreement with the
    editorial policy of their newspaper.


    RADIO B92 CALLS FOR CORDON OF ALL SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC'

    Radio B92 invited on Saturday all men bearing the name of Serbian
    President -- Slobodan Milosevic -- to form their own cordon in
    front of the riot police line in Kolarceva Street on Saturday
    midnight. All Belgrade's Mirjana Markovic' were also welcome.


    INITIATIVE FOR NEW LAW AT UNIVERSITY

    The Council for Defence of Democracy published on Saturday the
    draft of its Charter to enshrine the legal autonomy of the
    University.

    The Council harshly criticised the University Law (1992), which
    they said represented an attempt by the ruling party to control
    not only political, but also academic life in Serbia.


    ``DNEVNI TELEGRAF:'' DEMONSTRATORS IN KRAGUJEVAC AND KRALJEVO
    DRIVE POLICE OUT

    The daily 'Dnevni Telegraf' reported that demonstrators had forced
    police to leave the towns of Kragujevac and Kraljevo on Friday.

    On seeing a police van, several hundred marchers took sticks from
    under their coats and stormed towards that van, which then drove
    away.


    MAYOR OF KRAGUJEVAC: WE SHALL NOT RESTRAIN CITIZENS IF COURT MAKES
    ILLEGAL RULING

    The situation in Kragujevac was calm on Saturday after earlier
    clashes between police and demonstrators over local media control.
    The relative calm followed a compromise between the city
    government and the management of state Radio Television Serbia
    (RTS) on Friday, when local TV agreed not to broadcast political
    programmes until a ruling on the ownership of that TV had been
    made by the Supreme Court of Serbia.

    Veroljub Stevanovic, Mayor of Kragujevac, told the local
    independent weekly 'Nezavisna Svetlost' that he would insist that
    the dispute over local media be solved legally and that the media
    be returned to the city government.

    ``If the court, under political pressure, makes an illegal ruling,
    we shall no longer restrain citizens from entering the television
    [building],'' said the Mayor of Kragujevac.

    Mr. Stevanovic also said that the city government of Kragujevac
    would start legal proceedings against Head of Kragujevac Police
    Department, Colonel Dragan Bozovic and two of his officers, for
    the use of force against citizens on January 23. He said there was
    hard evidence that the police had assaulted peaceful
    demonstrators.


    KANAL 4 ISN'T JAMMING ANYONE

    Programme Organizer for Kanal 4 TV in Bajna Basta, Slavisa
    Arsenijevic, told BETA newsagency on Saturday that the television
    had stopped broadcasting after receiving an order from the
    Yugoslav Ministry of Transport and Communications on Friday.

    The communicae said the station should cease broadcasting as it
    had no no licence and was jamming military and police signals in
    the area.

    Mr Arsenijevic stated that Kanal 4 had started broadcasting 6
    years ago and had since an application 3 years ago for an official
    frequency licence, but had received no reply. He said that the
    fact that the television was broadcasting without a licence had
    bothered no one until the opposition city government was
    established in Bajna Basta. He also stated that the channels used
    by the television could not jam any other stations.

    The management of Kanal 4 is to meet with the representatives of
    the Yugoslav Ministry of Transport and Communications to determine
    the fate of their television station, BETA concluded.


    ZAJEDNO DELEGATION TO VISIT EUROPEAN COUNCIL

    The European Council's Committee for Political Relations will
    discuss the situation in Serbia on Tuesday. The same issue will
    probably be on the agenda of Wednesday's session of the European
    Parliament, FoNet reported on Saturday.

    FoNet also reported that the Committee had invited both
    representatives of the Serbian Government and the opposition
    coalition Zajedno, but only Zajedno had confirmed their
    attendence.


    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
    Yugoslavia

    Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
    Edited by: Julia Glyn-Pickett

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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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