Belgraders protest violence in Republic Square while police stand by on roads to Dedinje

BELGRADE, Friday -- Ten thousand Belgraders demonstrated on the central Republic Square tonight for the eleventh successive evening. Rally organisers tonight kept the protesters close to the square, after the violence encountered from police on marches through the city on Wednesday and Thursday. Opposition leaders this evening focused on condemning last night's brutal intervention by police in Knez Milos Street as the protesters attempted to march to the Belgrade suburb of Dedinje. Speakers at the rally reported that water cannons and 26 busloads of had been seen on the access roads to Dedinje this evening. Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic told a cheering crowd that the Alliance for Change coalition, organisers of the rally, would press charges against policemen who beat women and children. The leader of the Civil Alliance of Serbia, Goran Svilanovic, told the demonstrators that the protest marches would go on, despite police reactions. Speakers at the rally reported that water cannons and 26 busloads of had been seen on the access roads to Dedinje this evening.

In the southern Serbian city of Nis, 10,000 protesters gathered to condemn last night's police intervention in Belgrade. The Nis rally organisers announced that they would make their first protest march through the city after tomorrow night's rally.

Protesters in Valjevo tonight called for dissenting opposition leaders Vuk Draskovic and Vojislav Kostunica to join the people in revolt as they attempted to oust Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. About 2,500 demonstrators marched through the city streets before the rally.

Source: B92

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