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), February 19, 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 4 PM
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    TEACHERS PROTEST OUTSIDE GOVERNMENT BUILDING

    More than 5,000 teachers on strike on Wednesday protested in front
    of Serbian government buildings. They demand salary increases and
    the payment of their long overdue salaries. Almost all primary and
    secondary schools in Serbia have been on strike during the past
    few weeks. Teachers blocked the street and demanded that the
    government receives their delegation. Many protesters wore ``I Am
    Teaching For Free'' badges. The Serbian government agreed to
    receive only a delegation of nursing-home workers who were also on
    strike. The teachers' strike goes on.


    THREE MONTHS OF STUDENTS' PROTEST

    Students of Belgrade University are now protesting for the 90th
    day. They demand the full recogition of the election results and
    the replacement of the University Chancellor and the Student-
    prorector. At their Wednesday protest, students repeated their
    intention to persist until all their demands have been met. The
    Council of Deans of the University of Belgrade will hold a meeting
    on Thursday to discuss the current situation in the University.


    DANICA DRASKOVIC: MY CANDIDACY IS GOOD SOLUTION

    Member of the Main Board of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO),
    Danica Draskovic (wife of the opposition leader Vuk Draskovic), in
    an interview with Radio Free Europe, said that her candidacy for
    the post of chief executive of Belgrade council was ``a good
    solution,'' but that ``that solution ha been obstructed by various
    primitives and puritans.'' ``I was the candidate of the SPO, as a
    member with long working and political experience, not as the wife
    of Vuk Draskovic. We will support Zoran Djindjic's campaign to be
    the mayor of Belgrade if his Democratic Party (DS) supports the
    proposals of SPO. Otherwise, we would become servants of Zoran
    Djindjic and his party. He could have never made his political
    career without us,'' said Mrs. Draskovic.


    CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ARRIVED IN BELGRADE

    Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic arrived in Belgrade on
    Tuesday, at the invitation of Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan
    Milutinovic. It is also expected that Mr. Granic will be received
    by the Serbian President, Slobodan Milosevic.


    MIRA MARKOVIC: ONLY LEFT CAN PROTECT WORKERS' INTERESTS

    The head of the Yugoslav Left and wife of the Serbian President,
    Mira Markovic, in an interview in Wednesday's issue of the daily
    'Borba', said that only the Left could achieve the aims of the
    workers and that the workers knew that very well. ``The
    nationalist euphoria that flooded Yugoslavia at the end of the
    eighties included the workers too, but now they have sobered up
    and started asking questions about their living standards and
    working conditions. When the Socialist Federative Republic of
    Yugoslavia (SFRJ) broke up, all nations became losers. I don't
    know why they allowed what happened to happen,'' said Mrs.
    Markovic. She said that the media which call themselves
    ``independent'' in ex-socialist countries are politically and
    financially supported from abroad, and Yugoslavia is no exception.
    According to Mrs. Markovic, the free press gets ``political orders
    from abroad.'' The main aim of that ``falsely independent'' media
    is to destabilize the society in order to attract ``the help from
    abroad.'' Mrs. Markovic stated that the right wing of Serbian
    political scene has no profile, and is made up of ``former
    communists, frustrated intellectuals, some descendants of those
    defeated in World War II, scarce civil intelligentsia, greedy
    small enterpreneurs and confused snobs from the cities. Their
    mutual motive is a fight for power and it is the only connection
    that holds them together, so they cannot express that motive in
    any other way than through aggressiveness. Their internal bonds
    are very tense, and it is outwardly manifested as militant raging
    and some incomprehensible kind of hatred and rage, like a beast
    with rabies'' said Mrs. Markovic.

    Prepared by: Goran Dimitrijevic
    Edited by: Mary Anne Wood

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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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