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), January 15, 1997

    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 1997 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 6 PM
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    UNIVERSITY RECTOR TO STAY

    The Governing Council of the University of Belgrade supported
    today the demands of the Student Protest 96/97 and concluded that
    university courses will be resumed after these demands have been
    fulfilled. After a heated discussion, the Council decided not to
    demote the rector of the University of Belgrade, Dragutin
    Velickovic. Representatives of the Student Protest 96/97 have
    announced that 20 judges will join the students gathered in front
    of the Belgrade Rectorate building at 6 p.m.


    NEWS IN BRIEF

    The coalition Zajedno protest rally in Belgrade's Republic Square
    has ended for today. A full report will appear in our next news
    bulletin today.

    The coalition Zajedno has filed 45 legal motions with the First
    Municipal Court of Belgrade requesting the review of cases and
    procedures already ruled on, taking into account the new facts
    which have emerged since November 17, announced today Vesna Rakic-
    Vodinelic, a member of the Zajedno legal staff.

    The electoral crisis in Serbia and the recommendations of the
    Gonzalez report that the Serbian authorities ought to recognize in
    full the November 17 electoral results are not on the agenda of
    tomorrow's meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-
    operation in Europe. This announcement came from Vienna today.

    The city council of New Belgrade, the largest municipality in
    Serbia, was constituted today in the absence of opposition Zajedno
    deputies. Zajedno deputies had demanded that the constitution be
    postponed until the reinstatement of the November 17 electoral
    results.

    Branislav Ivkovic, former leader of the Belgrade branch of the
    Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), told Radio B92 that he voted in
    favor of all decisions made by the SPS Executive Board yesterday.


    US SENATE DELEGATION IN BELGRADE

    A delegation of the US Senate, led by Senator Jack Reed, has just
    spent 2 days in Belgrade. The delegation has met with
    representatives of the authorities, the opposition and the
    independent media. In an assessment of the current situation in
    Serbia, Senator Reed told Radio B92 that the Belgrade authorities
    have not only isolated themselves from the world, but also brought
    the people of Yugoslavia into the same kind of isolation Serbia
    experienced for the part it had taken in the conflicts in Bosnia.
    He said this isolation can be terminated only through the
    authorities' recognition of the electoral results and the respect
    of the democratic rights of the citizens. Senator Reed pointed to
    the fact that democratization has been going on in the whole of
    Eastern Europe and that Yugoslavia should join this movement by
    respecting fundamental human and minority rights as well as the
    freedom of the press.


    ZAJEDNO'S APPEAL REJECTED IN SMEDEREVSKA PALANKA

    A 3-member council of judges has confirmed the results of the
    third local electoral round in the town of Smederevska Palanka,
    rejecting the appeals by the coalition Zajedno against the
    decisions of the local electoral commission, report Belgrade media
    today. According to the final results of all three electoral
    rounds, out of a total of 49 seats, the Socialist Party of Serbia
    has won 27, while Zajedno has got 22, reports FoNet.


    NIS

    About ten thousand students of the UofN celebrated the
    opposition's in Nis by holding a night protest walk. The coalition
    Zajedno today sent a letter to the former Mayor of Nis, Stojan
    Randjelovic, asking for the immediate convening of the
    constitutive session of the city council, reports FoNet. ``We will
    not give what is ours and we will not take what is not ours: this
    is our principle and it will be implemented to the very end,''
    said the coalition Zajedno of Nis, stressing that they will not
    give up another 12 seats won in the local elections.


    KOSTUNICA: SERBIA WILL NEED A NEW BEGINNING

    President of the Democratic Party of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica,
    called the official announcement of the opposition's victory in
    the local elections in Belgrade the first open acknowledgment of
    defeat the authorities have yet made, reports FoNet. ``What was
    taken away illegally, was returned illegally, because in the
    meantime a whole complex judicial system has been created by which
    truth and facts could not be known. If the results from November
    17 are completely recognized, Serbia will need a new beginning,
    regarding both its judiciary and its media...''  He also stressed
    the need for a new federal and provincial constitution. Regarding
    the parliamentary panel discussion launched by the ruling
    Socialist Party, he said that ``the Socialists have forgotten that
    there cannot be nay real discussion on their panel for as long as
    there is no such discussion in the parliament itself.''


    COVIC RECEIVED PIERO FASSINO

    Mayor of Belgrade Nebojsa Covic and chairman of the city council,
    Zoran Milosevic, today had a meeting with deputy secretary of the
    Italian foreign ministry, Piero Fassino. They talked about the
    post-electoral crisis in Serbia and the ways of solving it within
    a democratic framework. The official statement issued by the
    mayor's office reads in part: ``During an open and cordial
    conversation, we reached a mutual agreement that the will of the
    people shown in the local elections must be respected, and that it
    is the basis for the solution to the crisis. Respect the
    principles of democracy, the authorities and the opposition should
    start a dialogue.''  The announcement emphasizes that ``a quick
    and peaceful solution to the post-electoral crisis would provide a
    significant contribution for the strengthening of the democratic
    processes in Serbia.''


    PARLIAMENTRAY PANEL TO RECONVENE TOMORROW

    The second session of the parliamentary panel on the electoral
    crisis will be held on Thursday, January 16, at 8 p.m. in the
    building of the Serbian Parliament, announced the Information
    Service of the Serbian Parliament today. The main topic will be
    the issue of local elections. This panel discussion will also be
    broadcast live on Channel 2 of the state-run RTS television.

    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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