Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

---

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    Odraz B92 vesti (by 9 PM), January 14, 1997

    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    All texts are Copyright 1997 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------



    NEWS BY 9 PM
    ------------------------------------------------------------------


    BELGRADE ELECTORAL COMMISSION CONFIRMED ORIGINAL ELECTION RESULTS

    At its session today, the City Electoral Commission of Belgrade
    declared invalid the decisions by which the Municipal Court had
    previously annulled the original results of the second round of
    local elections in the Yugoslav capital. Today's reversal of those
    annulments means that the original election results of November 17
    are now recognized as valid in law. According to November 17
    results, Belgrade's City Council (110 members in total) should
    have 60 members of the coalition Zajedno, 23 members of the Left
    Coalition (the Socialist Party, the United Left and New
    Democracy), 15 members of the Serbian Radical Party, and 2 members
    of the Democratic Party of Serbia. The remaining 10 disputed
    mandates underwent a third and then a fourth round of voting, and
    the regularity of those elections will be examined by state
    institutions which have a three-day deadline to reach a decision.


    DJINDJIC: NO REASON FOR EUPHORIA AND CELEBRATION

    President of the Democratic Party, Zoran Djindjic, stated today
    that the election results in Belgrade and Nis were not the only
    ones in question. Two months of protests in more than 40 cities of
    Serbia were aimed also towards the democratization of the country
    and the liberation of the media. In his first reaction to the
    decision of the Belgrade Electoral Commission, he said: ``There is
    no reason for euphoria and celebration until the results from
    November 17 are reinstated in full.''


    DEMOCRATIC PARTY: ALL OUR SEATS IN ALL THE CONSTITUENCIES WE
    CARRIED

    Spokesman for the Democratic Party, Slobodan Vuksanovic, gave a
    statement for FoNet explaining the DP position on today's
    concessions by the Milosevic regime: ``The coalition Zajedno does
    not trust the Socialists or their confirmation of the election
    results because both we and the citizens [of Serbia] have had bad
    experience with them in the past.''  He added: ``We are not
    satisfied with these announcements because we consider Belgrade
    only one part of Serbia, and the elections in Belgrade only one
    part of the elections in the country. We demand that all the
    [original] results be reinstated, that all the mandates we won be
    returned to us in all the constituencies where we did in fact win,
    just as Felipe Gonzalez's delegation had recommended after its
    review [of the elections].''


    ELECTORAL COMMISSION IN NIS CONFIRMED ALL MANDATES OF ZAJEDNO

    Radio B92 reports that the City Electoral Commission in Nis has
    passed a decision according to which the coalition Zajedno has 41
    mandates, the Left Coalition has 28 and the Serbian Radical Party
    has one seat in the city council of Nis. The Socialists have
    already announced that they will file a complaint.


    PIERO FASSINO IN BELGRADE

    Assistant Secretary of the Italian Foreign Ministry, Piero
    Fassino, today had a meeting with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan
    Milutinovic, followed by meetings with the leaders of the
    opposition and the students. Fassino said that he has arrived in
    Belgrade not only as a representative of Italy but also as an
    emissary of Europe in order to convey to Serbian authorities
    messages from the latest session of the Contact Group and other
    European forums. ``I told Milutinovic that the time given to
    Milosevic by the international community is running out, and that
    the decisions of the Gonzalez's commission must be carried out,''
    stated Fassino. He also the newest decisions of the Belgrade
    Electoral Commission, calling them a positive development.


    CHANGES WITHIN RULING PARTY

    The state-owned Radio Belgrade reported that at the session of the
    Executive Board of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia held today
    both Mayor of Belgrade Nebojsa Covic, and the local leader of the
    Socialists in Nis, Mile Ilic, have been expelled from the party.
    The head of Belgrade's party branch, Branislav Ivkovic, has been
    suspended from his duty. The new head of Belgrade Socialists is
    Dragan Tomic, Serbian Parliament Speaker.


    PESIC: SIGNS OF A POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT TURNAROUND

    Head of the Civic Alliance of Serbia, Vesna Pesic, gave a press
    conference in Paris today stating that the official confirmation
    of the opposition's victory in the elections in Belgrade could be
    a sign of a break-through. Vesna Pesic also said: `` I am
    cautious, because complaints [against this decision] can still be
    filed in the next for 48 hours. If the results are recognized, it
    would be a turnaround [for the regime], as the government has
    consistently claimed that the results would never be recognized.''
    She added that the protests will continue until the authorities
    accept all demands of the opposition. Regarding possible US
    sanctions against Serbia, she observed: ``Applying economic
    sanctions and isolating Serbia as this was done in the past would
    not be good. The people were the first to suffer the consequences.
    Targeted sanctions, aimed at Milosevic personally, would be much
    more effective. The international community could declare him a
    persona non grata.''


    NICHOLAS BURNS ON SERBIA

    Official Washington considers the latest confirmation of the
    opposition's victory in Belgrade ``a positive turn of events.''
    Spokesman for the State Department, Nicholas Burns stated today
    that, in the past few days, the US has achieved an impressive
    unity with its partners, and even Russia, on the point that
    Milosevic must accept the election results from November 17.
    However, Burns stressed that the US will wait for the OSCE
    decision on Milosevic's response to their recommendations, which
    is expected on January 16. Only after that will the US consider
    possible further punitive measures. So far, the US has frozen all
    economic and political contacts with Belgrade.


    RUSSIAN ATTITUDE REMAINS UNCHANGED

    Ghenadi Tarasov, official representative of the Russian Foreign
    Ministry, has distanced the Russian government itself from the
    expressions of support to the Serbian opposition given by the
    leader of the pro-government party Nas Dom Russia, Sergei Belayev.
    Tarasov pointed out that, according to state decrees, statements
    on Russian foreign policy may be given only by President Yeltsin,
    Prime Minister Chernomirdin, and Foreign Minister Primakov. He
    added that Russia applauds the positive attitude Yugoslav
    authorities have shown towards the recommendations of the Gonzalez
    commission.


    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ON SERBIA

    European diplomatic circles have learned of the new decision of
    the Belgrade Electoral Commission but point out that it is too
    early for any conclusions, reports FoNet from Brussels. Diplomats
    in Brussels are very skeptical about these concessions by the
    Serbian authorities because, as they say, it could be just another
    of Milosevic's tactical maneuvers. If the confirmation of the
    opposition victory turns out to hold, it would be a great victory
    for the opposition. Even so, the reinstatement of the Belgrade
    results is just a part of the Gonzalez package, which must be
    implemented in full. The European Parliament will discuss the
    situation in Serbia at its sessions in Strasbourg, in the next two
    days.


    NO PROBLEMS BETWEEN SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT AND STUDENTS

    Spokesman for the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), Ivan Kovacevic,
    stated at a press conference held today that his party has no
    problems in its relations with the students. Belgrade daily Nasa
    Borba today reported of a conflict between SPO's head Vuk
    Draskovic and his spouse Danica and some members of the Steering
    Board of the Student Protest. A tussle allegedly occurred when,
    instead of the students, the leaders of Zajedno addressed the
    crowd at last night's street celebration of the Orthodox New Year.
    ``There were no contacts with the students throughout yesterday,
    and so there was no physical possibility for a tussle. There were
    no incidents, and the program for the celebration was made
    together with the students. The whole story is a typical lie,
    thrown in by the police,'' stated Kovacevic.


    TOMORROW'S PROTEST RALLIES

    A new protest rally of the students of the University of Belgrade
    has been announced for tomorrow at 10 a.m. Supporters of the
    coalition Zajedno will hold their rally at 3 p.m.


    PROTEST AGAINST HINDERING OF BULGARIAN RADIO

    The Association of Independent Electronic Media of Yugoslavia has
    issued a protest against the hindering of the professional work of
    the journalists of Radio Darik in Sofia, Bulgaria. The radio
    station is the only medium that is covering the protests in
    Bulgaria by the opposition and citizens objectively and
    impartially. The station's telephone lines have been disconnected,
    and their communication with other journalists, ordinary citizens
    and the rest of the world is nil. ``We call on all media, media
    associations and organizations involved in defending the freedom
    of speech to show their solidarity with the journalists of this
    station and protest with the authorities in Bulgaria because of
    the pressure being exerted on Radio Darik,'' says the
    announcement.


    BELGRADE MOSQUE ATTACKED

    The religious leader of Belgrade's Moslem community, Hamdia
    Yusufspahic, informed the press today that during last night,
    Belgrade's only mosque ``was vandalized with hard objects and 21
    window-panes were broken.''  ``I can not say who did that,
    probably some fanatic, but the state has the obligation to protect
    the mosque as it is the only monument of Islamic culture in
    Belgrade,'' said Yusufspahic. He added that this was the seventh
    attack on the mosque since 1993. Except in one case, the police
    never found the perpetrators of the previous acts of vandalism
    directed at the mosque.

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

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    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/
    ------------------------------------------------------------------