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), January 31, 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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    STUDENT PROTEST

    As on Thursday, Belgrade students walked without hindrance from
    police on Friday morning. The students marched to the Supreme
    Court of Serbia where they attempted to hand the original Belgrade
    electoral minutes to the Republic of Serbia's Chief Prosecutor.
    When they were informed that he was absent, the students left the
    minutes inside the building.


    LAWYERS ON STRIKE

    Belgrade lawyers stopped all work in Serbian law courts and other
    government institutions, in an act of solidarity with protesters,
    on Friday.

    The Belgrade Chamber of Lawyers stated at a news conference on
    Friday that the institutions of the system had been disgraced by
    the government's actions, and that all lawyers in Serbia were
    considering the possibility of a general strike throughout the
    country.

    The Belgrade lawyers then protested in front of the Hall of
    Justice, and announced that they would take further action in the
    coming week.


    BULATOVIC GIVES UP POST OF PRIME MINISTER

    Belgrade daily 'Nasa Borba' reported on Friday that Montenegrin
    President Momir Bulatovic had given up his earlier plans to become
    Yugoslav Prime Minister and that Mr. Bulatovic had already
    informed Slobodan Milosevic of his change of mind.

    Presidents Bulatovic and Milosevic were reported to have struck a
    deal in which Mr. Bulatovic would become Yugoslav prime minister
    and Mr. Milosevic Yugoslav president, 'Nasa Borba' said.

    Mr. Bulatovic allegedly changed his mind as a result of domestic
    and foreign pressure.


    SERBIAN GOVERNMENT BLOCKS BUDGETS OF SCHOOLS ON STRIKE

    The Serbian Government ordered the Ministry of Education to
    ``enforce the law'' against those schools and Universities who
    have been on strike in recent weeks.

    As a result all those schools and Universities who do not submit a
    re-scheduled timetable for all lost classes will loose state
    funding for the entire period of time spent on strike. That
    timetable must also be approved by the Ministry of Education. The
    Serbian Government concluded that the University and school strike
    were illegal.


    DEMOCRATIC PARTY: WE WANT DEEDS, NOT WORDS

    On Friday Democratic Party spokesman Slobodan Vuksanovic, in his
    reaction to Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic's Thursday statement,
    said that the Zajedno coalition wanted deeds, not words.

    Mr. Vuksanovic added that it was not true that a
    ``misunderstanding'' had caused the election crisis but ``theft.''
    Mr. Vuksanovic added ``We cannot believe Mr. Lilic intends to
    respect the OSCE report, while the Socialists and the Yugoslav
    Left (JUL) are in the process of establishing their power in
    cities where, according to the OSCE, the opposition won.''

    Mr. Vuksanovic repeated the Zajedno demand that the OSCE report be
    implemented in full. ``After the results have been recognized, we
    will start a dialogue about freedom of the media,'' concluded
    Vuksanovic.


    UGLJANIN URGES US GOVERNMENT TO STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING OF SANDZAK

    President of the Muslim National Council of Sandzak (south-west
    Serbia) Suleiman Ugljanin stated that ``offers of Bosnian
    citizenship to Bosnians from Sandzak and Croatian Serbs were a
    dangerous step that would encourage the ethnic cleansing of
    Sandzak,'' Montena-fax reported on Friday.

    At his recent meeting with representatives of the American
    Embassy, Mr. Ugljanin demanded that the American government
    intervene to stop such a process because ``it was contrary to the
    aims of the Dayton agreements.''


    ALBRIGHT MEETS ARBOUR

    On Friday the US State Department stated that they were
    considering ``all options'' to arrest and extradict indicted war
    criminals to the Hague Tribunal, AFP reported.

    The subject of war crimes is the topic of Friday's talks between
    US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Chief Prosecutor of
    the Hague Tribunal Louise Arbour.

    US State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns added that, for the
    time being, they were not considering the option of setting up a
    special police force to track down indicted war criminals, but
    they might do so in the future.


    TEACHERS' STRIKE CONTINUES

    A delegation of teachers talked to representatives of the Serbian
    government on Friday, but reached no agreement. Members of the
    government where ``greeted'' with whistles and boos when they
    tried to address the more than one thousand teachers in the
    delegation.

    Trade Unions representing teachers of art and science have decided
    to attempt a second round of negotiations with the government. If
    an agreement is not reached during that round, then all institutes
    for art and science will start a general strike as of February 3.

    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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