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), December 20, 1996

    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
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    All texts are Copyright 1996 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 3 PM
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    POLICE STOP THE STUDENTS AT BRANKO'S BRIDGE

    Around 2 p.m. today, 200 policemen stopped the student
    demonstrators of Protest '96 at the approach to Branko's Bridge in
    Belgrade. Students had announced yesterday that they would try to
    block the bridge for half an hour early this afternoon. To prevent
    any close contact with the police, and any possible provocation,
    students stretched a rope across the street, thus creating a
    sizable no-man's-land between themselves and the police. Unable to
    approach the bridge, students put the ``Forbidden City'' papier-
    mache pyramid they've been using in the lat couple of days in
    front of the police line. Around 2:40 p.m., the police forces were
    re-enforced by another 200 men. Since the students started
    dispersing to the other streets, the police withdrew. The
    Belgraders who happened to be on the spot as well as casual
    passers-by cheered the students, showering them with improvised
    paper confetti.


    ANNULMENT IN BELGRADE, STATE-OWNED TV CHANNEL FOR THE OPPOSITION?

    According to today's issue of the newspaper ``Blic,'' well
    informed sources close to the top ranks of the ruling party report
    that President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic will probably annul
    the elections in Belgrade and make a concession on the question of
    the media by giving Channel 2 of the state-owned RTS Television to
    the opposition. That concession will probably be on the agenda of
    the next session of the Serbian Parliament, scheduled for December
    24. The turnaround in Milosevic's policy is believed to be a
    ``pre-emptive measure'' caused by the impending arrival of the
    OSCE delegation to Belgrade, concludes the newspaper.


    DEMOCRATIC PARTY EXPECTS OSCE TO VERIFY THE ELECTIONS

    The Democratic Party expects the OSCE delegation to verify the
    results of the second round of municipal elections in Serbia, said
    today Slobodan Vuksanovic, spokesman of the Democratic Party. He
    also pointed out that everything could have been settled without
    outside involvement, but since such an involvement is on the
    table, the coalition Zajedno will be open and fully cooperative
    with the international team. ``We have all the necessary
    documents, and the real election results may be reviewed in 15
    minutes, so we are expecting the OSCE delegation with complete
    confidence,'' said Vuksanovic.


    IN THE WORKS: RULING PARTY COUNTER-DEMONSTRATION IN BELGRADE

    Today's issue of the newspaper ``Dnevni Telegraf'' reports that
    Serbian Socialist Party is preparing a huge rally of its
    supporters in Belgrade. The rally will be the last in the series
    of pro-Socialist gatherings that began three days ago in the city
    of Majdanpek. The ruling party expects to bring more than a
    million people to the rally by busing its supporters from all over
    Serbia. The exact date of the rally is still unknown, says the
    newspaper.


    TOP-RANKING SPS MEMBER CONDEMNS THE ANNULMENT

    Former member of the Presidential Board of Yugoslavia, and one of
    the highest officials of the Socialist Party, Borisav Jovic, gave
    an interview to the weekly ``NIN'' in which he said that the
    annulment of the election results is unacceptable ``in
    principle.''  Jovic also said that the various objections given as
    the grounds for the annulment do not sound convincing.
    ``Socialists lost the elections in the cities, and that fact
    surprised the party so much that it made a very irrational and
    dangerous move -- they annulled the results,'' said Jovic.


    ALBANIA OFFICIALLY ASKS FOR OSCE MEDIATION IN KOSOVO

    Albania sent an official letter to the head of the OSCE, Flavio
    Cotti, in which it asks the international community to restore its
    missions to Kosovo, Sandjak and Vojvodina ``urgently and without
    any conditions,'' reports today Montena-Fax. The letter also says
    that ``the oppression in Kosovo must be stopped, and a dialogue
    between Belgrade and Pristina must be opened as soon as
    possible.''

    Prepared by: Aleksandra Scepanovic
    Edited by: Vaska Andjelkovic (Tumir)

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