Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    Odraz B92 vesti (by 4 PM), December 21, 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 4 PM
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    FELIPE GONZALES WITH THE LEADERS OF ZAJEDNO

    Former Spanish Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzales, who is presently
    heading the OSCE fact-finding mission to Belgrade, talked last
    night with the leaders of the coalition Zajedno. Gonzales had met
    with President Milosevic shortly before he held talks with the
    opposition leaders.

    Representatives of Zajedno report that the opposition gave Mr.
    Gonzales free access to all relevant election documents in their
    possession and informed the OSCE delegation of the opposition's
    stand on the issues. The meeting was held behind closed doors in
    Belgrade's ``Hyatt'' hotel. Zajedno leaders also made it clear
    that they did not ask Gonzales to comment on his conversation with
    Milosevic. Zajedno does not wish to transform Mr. Gonzales' role
    in Belgrade into a mediating one: the opposition leaders
    reiterated that their only concern was to present the OSCE
    delegation with the proofs of the electoral fraud engineered by
    the regime and to let the world know that Milosevic did in fact
    steal their supporters' votes last month.

    Leaders of Zajedno and the OSCE delegation had another meeting
    this morning. At the press conference held after the meeting,
    Zoran Djindjic, leader of the Democratic Party, said that the OSCE
    Commission was interested learning about the political conditions
    during the pre-election period as well as during the elections
    themselves. The fact-finding delegation also wants to explore the
    possibilities that still exist for a peaceful solution to the
    current crisis. Djindjic also said that if the authorities do
    accept the original election results, the coalition Zajedno will
    be ready to negotiate further political conditions and reforms of
    the political system in the country. Leader of the Serbian Renewal
    Movement, Vuk Draskovic, rejected the proposal of a panel
    discussion on the current situation, and proposed instead a series
    of round table talks between the opposition and the ruling
    Socialists, whose joint decisions would be respected by all
    parliamentary parties in Serbia. Such discussions, Draskovic
    added, would have to be broadcast live on the national TV.


    THE OSCE DELEGATION AND THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA

    The OSCE delegation talked this morning with the representatives
    of the independent media in Belgrade, specifically with the
    management of the daily newspaper ``Nasa Borba'' and the Radio
    B92.

    ``My impression was that the OSCE delegation is well informed
    about the problems facing the independent media here,'' said the
    general manager of Radio B92, Sasa Mirkovic, and added: ``We
    brought with us all the necessary documents which show what B92
    has gone through in the last 20 days. We talked about the problems
    the independent media must cope with. We stressed that Radio Boom
    93 in Pozarevac is still off the air, and still without a
    broadcasting license. Our conversation focused entirely on the
    topics related to the independent electronic media. I hope that
    the conversation was informative and useful. I hope that, as a
    result of this meeting, the OSCE delegation has now got another
    point of view, another angle on what has been going on in all the
    large cities in Serbia for the last 30 days.''


    DJINDJIC: THE PROTESTS WILL CONTINUE

    Zoran Djindjic, head of the Democratic Party, announced after his
    meeting with the OSCE delegation that the protests in Belgrade
    will continue until the electorate is satisfied. He also expressed
    hope that the protesters will be joined by some members of the
    OSCE delegation.


    THE STUDENT WALK

    About 10,000 students protested today on the streets of Belgrade.
    The crowd was led by several students from Subotica who arrived in
    Belgrade on bicycles. As before, the main banner carried by the
    protesters read: ``Belgrade Is The World.''  Students want the
    authorities to accept the real election results recorded in the
    original electoral minutes.


    MEMBER OF ZAJEDNO BEATEN BY THE POLICE

    The coalition Zajedno reported today that one of their supporters,
    Goran Krstic from the city of Vranje, was arrested and beaten by
    the police on Dec. 19. Goran Krstic was admitted to a local
    hospital last night, Dec. 20, where he received emergency medical
    treatment from the staff of the hospital's surgery ward.

    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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