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), February 7, 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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    ZAJEDNO TO BOYCOTT PARLIAMENT

    Democratic Spokesman Slobodan Vuksanovic announced on Friday that
    Zajedno deputies would boycott the special session of the Serbian
    Parliament which has been called for next Tuesday. The Parliament
    has been recalled to debate Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's
    lex specialis which aims at resolving the electoral crisis by
    conceding Zajedno victories. Mr Vuksanovic also confirmed that
    protest rallies would continue until the Serbian Parliament has
    actually recognised the November 17 election results and that
    Zajedno would table amendments to the proposed law including the
    still-disputed electorates of New Belgrade and Mladenovac.


    EIGHTIETH DAY OF PROTESTS

    Tens of thousands of Belgraders attended the eightieth Zajedno
    Rally in Republic Square on Friday. Leader Vuk Draskovic,
    referring to the current state media preoccupation with economic
    reform, told protesters that Serbia is facing a political problem,
    not an economic one, and that economic reform is without value
    within an unreconstructed political system. He stressed that
    acceptance from Europe would come only when the country had
    embraced European values.

    Zoran Djindjic claimed that the first task of the new government
    would be to restore money that had been stolen from the people. Mr
    Djindjic said that people's property would be defended in the same
    way that their votes had been defended for the last eighty days,
    adding that the new Ministry for Ownership Transformation was a
    scheme for stealing more money. Mr Djindjic said the Ministry's
    role was to ``transform'' money into their own pockets.

    Civic Alliance leader Vesna Pesic said that Slobodan Milosevic,
    having spent eighty days in a mouse hole, had now put on his
    statesman's costume and was pretending to be the saviour of the
    country. Mrs Pesic, told the crowd that the President's claim that
    he had given in, not to pressure from the people, but to the
    urgings of the international community, meant that he despised his
    own people and their will. Referring to the Serbian President as
    ``Mr Dictator,'' she described him as having become the servant of
    the international community.


    STUDENTS FOR NEW BELGRADE

    Belgrade University students on Friday marched to the New Belgrade
    Halls of Residence. The students were protesting at the failure of
    the government to include New Belgrade and Mladenovac in the lex
    specialis. Residents of New Belgrade applauded and cheered the
    student column as it passed through the central New Belgrade area.
    The march was joined by former police inspectors who had been
    sacked for supporting protesting students.


    NEW YUGOSLAV PRIME MINISTER

    Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic on Friday began a series of
    consultations with leaders of the Serbian and Montengrin
    government coalition parties. The discussions are centred on
    choosing a new Prime Minister to replace Radoje Kontic, whose term
    of office is due to expire.


    TEACHERS STRIKE UNRESOLVED

    Striking teachers' representative Jagos Bulatovic told media on
    Friday that the teachers' negotiating team was dissatisfied with
    the response of the Serbian Government. He said that the strike,
    which is affecting 85% of schools in Serbia, would continue.


    CHANGE LEADERS NOT COUNTRY

    Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic told the Paris
    newspaper La Croix on Friday that Serbia should recognise the
    November 17 local elecion results. Asked explicitly whether he
    regarded the handling of the election results as political theft
    by the Serbian Government, Mr Djukanovic replied ``Yes.''  Mr
    Djukanovic said that he felt that the use of force in Belgrade was
    a grave mistake and said that a solution to the crisis must be
    sought by democratic means.

    Mr Djukanovic, noting that Montenegro has suffered fallout from
    the problems in Serbia, rejected the idea that the Yugoslavia
    federation should split, saying that instead, those politicians
    who act in a way contrary to the will of the people should be
    replaced as quickly as possible.


    LILIC DEMAGOGIC

    Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova on Friday described Yugoslav
    President Zoran Lilic's call for a peace dialogue as an obvious
    piece of demagogy, coming as it did at a time of increased attacks
    on Albanians by the Serbian regime.

    Mr Rugova said that the Serbian party should offer a serious
    dialogue, mediated by a third party, which would guarantee results
    from such negotiations.


    US DEMAND SERB DISARMAMENT

    US Envoy in Bosnia, James Pardue, on Friday called on NATO to
    increase pressure on Bosnian Serbs to destroy weaponry in excess
    of the limit set by the Dayton accords.

    Mr Pardue said that the Muslim Croat Federation had liquidated all
    750 of its surplus items of weaponry, compared to the Serb's 45.

    Mr Pardue expressed US concern over this, saying that they would
    redress the imbalance by training and arming the Muslim-Croat
    Federation.

    Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
    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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