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), April 24, 1997

      E-mail: odrazb92@b92.opennet.org, beograd@siicom.com
   5  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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      C O N T E N T S
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      NEWS BY 4 PM

        Socialist Central Committee Begins Meeting . . . . . . . . .  22
        Milosevic more popular than his party  . . . . . . . . . . .  29
        GSS Calls for Change in Media Panel's Rules of Procedure . .  45
  15    Parliamentary Board for Health Care Turns Blind Eye  . . . .  58
        Strikes in Podgorica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  66
        Victims of Frozen Savings Accounts Protest . . . . . . . . .  75
        RTS Editor Fired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  95

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  20  NEWS BY 4 PM
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      SOCIALIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE BEGINS MEETING

      The Central Committee of Serbia's governing Socialist Party (SPS)
      opened a meeting on Thursday afternoon at the Yugopetrol building
  25  in New Belgrade. The meeting was strictly closed to the press and
      those who attempted to approach the building were pushed roughly
      aside. The meeting is expected to instigate a major party
      reshuffle.


      MILOSEVIC MORE POPULAR THAN HIS PARTY

  30  Partner polling agency gives Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic
      a 17.5% lead as a possible candidate for the forthcoming Serbian
      presidential elections, should he choose to run. The figure
      excludes Kosovo and Metohija.

      Close on his heels is Serbian Radical Leader Vojislav Seselj.
  35  Polls show that if President Slobodan Milosevic were to stay out
      of the race, Mr. Seselj would cruise home with a 18.8% lead,
      beating any other Socialist candidate.

      The polls also rate Mr. Seselj as the most popular politician,
      while Vuk Draskovic, leader of the Serbian Renewal Party, ranked
  40  last with as little as 4.4%.

      The most popular party was Zajedno, with 21.6% of the Serbian
      electorate saying they would vote for the coalition.

      Partner agency polled 1,018 individuals from Belgrade, Vojvodina
      and Serbia proper.


  45  GSS CALLS FOR CHANGE IN MEDIA PANEL'S RULES OF PROCEDURE

      Zajedno member, the Civil Alliance of Serbia (GSS), proposed on
      Thursday that the Rules of Procedure of the Panel on Media,
      organized by the Serbian Information Ministry, be changed in order
      to allow Zajedno representatives to participate in the panel. GSS
  50  spokesman Goran Svilanovic told reporters the Rules of Procedure
      should be changed to make panal decisions binding, FoNet reported.

      Mr. Svilanovic also stressed that it was high time that fair
      electoral conditions were established and said a precondition for
      this was the removal of Mr. Balsa Govedarica as Chairman of the
  55  Republic Electoral Commission. Mr Svilanovic said that this was
      necessary as he had personally been responsible for the November
      17th election fraud.


      PARLIAMENTARY BOARD FOR HEALTH CARE TURNS BLIND EYE

      The Parliamentary Board for Health Care on Wednesday for the third
  60  time in a row refused to examine an urgent report on the nation's
      health care system. The Board justified the delay by saying that
      they had not yet received all necessary documentation. Zoran
      Vacic, member of the Board and Democratic Party MP, said that
      constant delays had brought the health system to the brink of
  65  collapse.


      STRIKES IN PODGORICA

      More than 5,000 workers striked in central Podgorica on Thursday.
      The strike was organised by the Alliance of Independent Trade
      Unions of Montenegro and kicked off at one minute to twelve --
  70  what they called the last minute for action. Leaders were keen to
      stress the non-political nature of the strike and said the aim was
      to bring home the message that workers were tired of 'political
      skirmishes.' The rally was attended trade unionists from cities in
      both Serbia and other Montenegrin, BETA reported on Thursday.


  75  VICTIMS OF FROZEN SAVINGS ACCOUNTS PROTEST

      Tomislav Perisis, President of the Association of the Dafiment
      Bank Frozen Savings Account Holders, told reporters on Thursday
      that the drafting of a law on foreign currency savings had been
      postponed until May 15th.

  80  Speaking to fellow victims of the Dafiment Bank in front of the
      Yugoslav National Bank in Belgrade, Mr. Perisis said that he had
      walked out of Thursday's meeting with Vice-President of the
      Serbian Government Dragan Tomic and Serbian Minister for Ownership
      Transformation Milan Beko. Mr. Perisis said that he had done in
  85  this in protest at the proposal to restore lost savings in the
      form of bonds.

      Mr. Perisis insisted that bonds would be just another attempt to
      defraud innocent savers and announced a new protest rally for
      April 28th.

  90  Mr. Perisis also stressed that Belgrade City Council had refused
      to allow the savings accounts holders to hold meetings in the
      Belgrade City Hall. He added that as Mayor Djindjic had also
      refused to see them their trust in the opposition had collapsed,
      BETA reported


  95  RTS EDITOR FIRED

      Radio Television Serbia's Film Editor Mladan Popovic was fired on
      Wednesday. Mr. Popovic told FoNet that he had received RTS's
      decision after working for more than 20 years for the state
      broadcaster. The decision confirms an earlier ruling by the RTS
 100  Disciplinary Court which dismissed Mr. Popovic on the grounds of
      statements given to Belgrade daily 'Nasa Borba' and weekly 'NIN'.
      His statements were supportive of peaceful civil protest and
      critical of RTS news reports.

      Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
 105  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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