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 27, 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 3 PM
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    STUDENTS WIN

    Belgrade students on Monday celebrated the successful conclusion
    of their eight-day campaign to outlast a police cordon in downtown
    Kolarceva Street. The cordon withdrew at 4.00 am on Monday after
    178 hours of blocking the students from marching through the city.
    The students immediately continued their march through the city
    streets as part of the traditional procession for St Sava's Day, a
    major event on the Serbian Orthodox calendar. The procession, in
    which tens of thousands of Belgraders marched, was led by Serbian
    Patriarch Pavle. After attending a service in St Sava Cathedral,
    the students returned to Kolarceva Street to celebrate their
    victory. Student leaders announced today that a new student
    protest rally would begin on Wednesday.


    FRENCH CALL FOR INCREASED PRESSURE ON SERBIA

    French Foreign Minister De Charet has called on Denmark, currently
    in the chair of the OSCE, to increase pressure on Serbian
    authorities to recognise the November election results, FoNet
    reports. Mr De Charet spoke to his Danish counterpart, Niels
    Hoelveg Petersen, stressing that all election results must be
    honoured.


    RUSSIANS VISIT DEMOCRATS

    FoNet reports that a delegation of the Russian Duma which has been
    visiting Belgrade since the weekend held talks on Monday with
    Democratic Party Foreign Affairs spokesman Ilija Djukic. According
    to the agency, Mr Djukic briefed the delegation on the causes of
    the current political crisis, including the aims of citizens who
    have been protesting for more than two months. He also discussed
    Zajedno's attitude to the student protest. The delegation members
    told Mr Djukic that they would make a report to the Duma once they
    had met all parties involved in the crisis.


    MONTENEGRO: VISA REQUIREMENTS DAMAGING TOURISM

    The Montenegrin daily Pobjeda on Monday called for visa
    requirements for foreigners to be urgently reviewed by the Federal
    Parliament, so that Montenegro is not deprived of foreign tourism
    business for another year. The newspaper emphasised that the most
    important question is the normalisation of Yugoslav relations with
    international financial and political institutions, adding that it
    was obvious that the tourism departments had little say in the
    administration of the country's borders.


    BLIC: GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE THIS WEEK

    Belgrade daily Blic reported on Monday that the reshuffle of the
    Serbian Government, already agreed on by President Slobodan
    Milosevic and Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic, will be carried out
    this week. Blic, quoting sources near the top of the Socialist
    Party, also claimed that the changes will only be cosmetic,
    although several ministers will be replaced. The paper added that
    there will be no place for members of the Serbian Radical Party,
    despite predictions to that effect. The daily quoted its sources
    as saying that the price for including the Radicals would be too
    high; the world would be astounded by such a move, and Montenegro
    would be against it.


    PESIC: NO HIRED HAVEL FOR SERBIA

    Monday's edition of the Belgrade daily Demokratija carried a
    statement from Vesna Pesic, President of the Civil Alliance of
    Serbia, saying that it would be a great shame if the opposition
    coalition Zajedno were to fall apart. ``We would be some kind of
    swindlers, like those we criticise,'' commented Mrs Pesic. Asked
    who would be ``Serbia's Havel,'' to stand as the opposition's
    candidate in the forthcoming presidential elections, Mrs Pesic
    replied that it was too early to discuss that, and that she was
    against the hiring of an outsider who was not in touch with
    current events. She also announced that the opposition would not
    announce the composition of their shadow government until events
    in the streets had been concluded.

    Prepared by: Goran Dimitrijevic
    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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