Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 10 PM), January 21, 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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    ATTENTION
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    Radio B92 has scheduled a phone-in programme with all its
    listeners throughout the world as participants. You can contact us
    on Wednesday, January 22,1997, from 14:00 to 15:00 hours local
    time. The topic of this live broadcast will be the current
    situation in Serbia and the first ``computer revolution'' carried
    out over the Internet. You can leave personal messages, greetings
    and wishes. Radio B92 calls on all our foreign listeners and
    visitors to our Internet page to participate in the programme.


    NEWS BY 10 PM
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    ELECTIONS IN EIGHT CONSTITUENCIES FROM OSCE REPORT WERE HELD IN
    ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW

    The Serbian government considered and adopted the findings of the
    Ministry of Justice concerning local elections in some
    constituencies in Serbia on Tuesday.

    The government stated that the elections in eight cities,
    mentioned in the OSCE report on election irregularities in
    November, had been carried out accordance with the law. The
    Ministry of Justice thus rejected the OSCE findings in those eight
    towns.

    The Ministry ruling means that the wins of opposition Zajedno have
    not been recognised by the government.


    ZAJEDNO LEGAL EXPERTS: GOVERNMENT'S ANNOUNCEMENT CONFUSING

    Zajedno legal advisor, professor Dragor Hiber, stated that he
    Serbian government statement was confusing.

    ``The government is not an institution able to rule on election
    results. We cannot see the opinion of the government in that
    statement. They mention cities where results have been annuled and
    Socialist rule constituted. They do not mention Belgrade, nor the
    fact that Belgrade Electoral Commission confirmed the victory of
    the coalition Zajedno there. We will fight for every seat we
    won,'' said professor Hiber.


    YUGOSLAV LEFT SATISFIED WITH RESULTS

    At its meeting on Tuesday, the leadership of the Yugoslav Left
    (JUL) expressed their satisfaction at their more than half a
    million votes which re-enforced the victory of the ``left block
    and democratic, progressive forces in the country,'' said a JUL
    press released on Tuesday.

    JUL also stressed that the OSCE mission confirmed that the local
    elections in Serbia were legal and legitimate and that disputed
    constituencies were only 3.4% of all Serbia.

    ``Then, with an incentive from abroad, part of the opposition
    organized agressive demonstrations as an attempt to change the
    freely expressed will of the citizens by force,'' JUL continued.
    ``With the active participation of the fifth column in the
    country, that part of the opposition, financially helped from
    abroad, has tried to make real the the forceful breakdown of the
    established order of our constitution, similar to that of other
    European countries.''

    JUL concluded that the any irregularities found in the second
    round of the November elections must be urgently removed by the
    institutions of the system.


    BELGRADE ELECTORAL COMMISSION DEMANDS EXCLUSION OF BIASED JUDGES

    The Belgrade Electoral Commission demanded late Monday that the
    President of the Supreme Court of Serbia, Municipal Court, and all
    their deputies, be excluded from legal rulings about the elections
    because they, in the Commission's words, 'were biased'.


    STUDENTS TO REMAIN ON STREETS AS LONG AS NECESSARY

    Spokesman of the Student Protest, Bojan Bogdanovic, stated that
    students will remain in Kolarceva street, in front of the riot
    police cordon for as long as necessary to be able to march.

    ``We have organized shifts, and it works. Tonight we will be
    joined by lawyers and professors who will arrange a series of
    lectures and consultations for the police called 'education of the
    cordon','' said Bogdanovic at a press conference on Tuesday.

    Around noon the students were joined by professors from the
    Faculty of Philosophy who also made a cordon in front of the
    police.

    By Tuesday Police had Moved their Thirtieth Cordon.

    Meanwhile, students are the passing the time by playing badminton,
    cards and dancing. Some of them sit by fishermen's buckets with no
    water in them, with fishing rods without hooks.

    They say their ``fishing'' is as senseless an action of as the
    police cordon blocking their march.

    Early Tuesday afternoon, the student action ``Bloodshed For
    Democracy'' also began.

    Students asked for blood doners to visit the Belgrade blood bank.
    The blood bank publicly thanked students for their voluntary blood
    donation.


    DJINDJIC AND DRASKOVIC SPEAK AT REPUBLIC SQUARE

    Tens of thousands of Belgrade citizens gathered at central
    Republic Square on Tuesday on the 63rd day of protests at the
    November 17 election fraud.

    Opposition leader and President of the Democratic Party, Zoran
    Djindjic, compared the current situation in Serbia to a game of
    chess where one man plays against his own people and lost, in his
    speech Tuesday.

    President of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, called
    on the citizens to support the student protest in every way
    possible and to join them. He also condemned police intervention
    against demonstrators on Monday. ``We want you to be humans, not
    robots or clockwork toys. Every one of you is writing their own
    human biography,'' Draskovic then told police.

    Head of the Civil Alliance of Serbia, Vesna Pesic, was not present
    at the rally, as she was in Italy.


    GONZALEZ MAY GO TO BELGRADE TO CONFIRM OPPOSITION'S VICTORY

    Former Spanish Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez, who headed the
    OSCE fact-finding mission to Belgrade last December, stated
    Tuesday that the Serbian authorities must recognize in full the
    victory of the opposition in those cities where their wins had
    been annuled, reported Reuters Tuesday.

    Mr. Gonzalez, who is attending the convention of the Socialist
    Internationale in Rome, also said that he had been invited by
    Yugoslav Foreign Minister, Milan Milutinovic, to visit Belgrade
    again.

    ``I told him that I would go only if I were invited by the
    international community to implement the conclusions of my report.
    I rejected alternative options... I do not think there are any
    alternative options, '' Mr. Gonzalez said.


    RHEN: THREAT OF CIVIL WAR IN KOSOVO

    United Nations Special Envoy for Human Rights, Elisabeth Rhen,
    stated that political conflict and violence in Kosovo could lead
    to civil war, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

    At a press conference in Helsinki, Rhen said that if the political
    crisis in Serbia were to spread to Kosovo ``there could be real
    explosion and fire, and we could face a civil war there.''

    Rhen also said that she would request Serbian authorities to open
    an UN human rights office in Kosovo. ``A new conflict is simmering
    there and it could involve Albania too, and this is a very
    disturbing fact. Unfortunately, Europe is not aware of this. On
    the other hand, the US understands how serious the situation is.
    Kosovo is where it all started, where Milosevic began his ascent
    to power by using the violence towards Kosovian Serbs for his own
    purposes. I am afraid that Kosovo can once again be used for
    political purposes,'' warned Rhen.


    BILDT ON SERBIA AND BOSNIA

    High Commissioner for Bosnia, Karl Bildt, expressed ``grave
    concern at the growing tensions in Kosovo and the danger of the
    extremist elements on both sides,'' on Tuesday.

    Mr. Bildt said the situation in Kosovo should be put on the agenda
    of the international community as soon as possible. ``I do not
    insist on the internationalization of the problem, I insist on
    solving it,'' said Bildt said.

    Mr. Bildt also commented that, so far, events in Serbia had not
    had any impact on Bosnia, except for the devalvation of the
    Yugoslav dinar which has influenced the economy of 'Republica
    Srpska'.

    Bildt expressed his belief that Bosnian Serbs should make an
    arrangement with the Muslim-Croat Federation on a mutual, stable
    currency in order to separate their economy from the unstable
    Yugoslav dinar and its unpredictable fate.


    LE PEN IN SERBIA

    Leader of the French National Front, Jean Marie Le Pen, arrived in
    Belgrade on Tuesday at the invitation of the Serbian Radical
    Party.

    Mr. Le Pen stated that the ``communist dictatorship of Mr.
    Milosevic had caused divisions in Serbia'' and stressed his
    ``sympathy for the opposition protests in Belgrade against their
    totalitarian regime and for the democracy.''

    Le Penn also said the ``deepening of brotherhood with Serbia and
    its people, who were the traditional friends of France,'' was the
    main reason for his visit.

    Prepared by: Goran Dimitrijevic
    Edited by: Julia Glyn-Pickett

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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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