Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service

    Odraz B92 vesti (by 7 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 7 PM
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    RTS GENERAL MANAGER TO BE DEMOTED

    Dragoljub Milanovic, General Manager of Radio Television Serbia
    (RTS), has been demoted or will be soon, Radio B92 were told by
    sources close to the Serbian Government and RTS on Friday. The
    news is to be made public on Monday. Mr. Milanovic will probably
    get an ambassadorial post. The new RTS general manager is expected
    to be Milovan Vitezovic.


    STUDENTS TO SEND ELECTORAL MATERIALS TO JUDGES

    Cedomir Jovanovic, member of the Steering Board of Student Protest
    96/97 said on Friday that students will send the electoral and
    post-electoral minutes of the Belgrade Electoral Commission to
    Supreme Court judges.

    Mr. Jovanovic said that the students had urged the public
    prosecutor to initiate procedures to uphold the rule of law. This
    would mean respecting the earlier decision of the Belgrade
    Electoral Commission to recognise opposition wins and excluding
    from future court proceedings on the November elections judges
    from the Supreme, municipal and district courts, FoNet reported on
    Friday.

    Mr. Jovanovic described Friday morning's event in the Supreme
    Court as absurd, as court security had told the students that the
    Public Prosecutor was there, while the Public Prosecutor's
    secretary had denied he was present.

    Tanja Milovanovic, member of the Managing Board of the Student
    Protest, on returning from her visit to Denmark at the invitation
    of Danish weekly 'Politiken', stated that she had met Danish
    Foreign Minister Niels Petersen, who had sent a letter of support
    to the Student Protest. She noted that Danish public opinion had
    considerably changed in favour of the Serbian people.


    TEACHERS PROTEST

    The Independent Education Trade Union of Serbia held a protest
    meeting in Belgrade's Trade Union Hall on Friday. The striking
    teachers stated that the strike would not end until all the
    teachers' demands had been met, Beta reported on Friday.

    More than 1,000 schools across Serbia had joined the strike by
    Friday. In 3 Belgrade schools, directors are reported to have
    abused their authority by sacking or threatening to dismiss
    teachers who have joined the strike.


    COUNCIL FOR DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY SUPPORTS TEACHERS STRIKE

    The University Council for the Defence of Democracy expressed its
    full support on Friday for the general strike of primary and
    secondary school teachers, FoNet reported. The council's statement
    warned that the living conditions of all educational staff were so
    bad that a strike was the only possible form of protest.


    BELGRADE ELECTORAL COMMISSION ACCEPTS ZAJEDNO APPEALS

    The Belgrade Electoral Commission granted on Friday the 28 appeals
    of the Zajedno opposition coalition.

    The First Municipal Court handed the remaining 17 appeals down to
    the Belgrade Electoral Commission on Friday to be solved within 15
    days.

    Radomir Lazarevic, chair of the Commission told Radio B92 that
    they had decided to shorten the term and respond to the appeals
    much sooner.


    NEW CITY GOVERNMENT IN JAGODINA

    The opposition coalition Zajedno constituted the new city
    government in Jagodina on Friday according to the November 17
    results. According to those results Zajedno holds 34 out of 63
    seats on the City Council of Jagodina.

    On opening the constitutive session, the Zajedno deputies acted
    out a comic obstruction of that session by discussing English
    poetry and US policy in the 18th century. The dumbfounded
    Socialist and JUL deputies left the session. The Zajedno deputies
    then elected the new city government.


    NIS: SOCIALISTS WILL BE CONSTRUCTIVE OPPOSITION

    ``We shall be a constructive opposition,'' Zivota Zivkovic leader
    of the Socialist party in Nis stated on Friday. He said he would
    not allow Socialists to obstruct the city government. Mr. Zivkocic
    also announced that his party would seek dialogue with the ruling
    party in that city and that there would be a reshuffle of the
    Socialist branch in Nis in light of the party's failure in the
    November local elections.


    CONSTITUTIVE SESSION OF CITY GOVERNMENT OF PIROT ADJOURNED DUE TO
    LACK OF QUORUM

    The fifth part of the constitutional session of the Pirot City
    Council was adjourned on Friday as there was not a full quorum.
    None of the Socialist, and the one Radical, deputies turned up for
    the session.

    The Socialists' reason for not coming was the alleged refusal of
    Zajedno, who hold the majority in the city council, to verify one
    Socialist seat. During the break, the city council received a
    decision by the Supreme Court of Serbia. That decision sustained
    the Zajedno appeal and annulled the one disputed Socialist seat.

    The Mayor of Pirot also announced that some Socialist deputies who
    had wished to attend the session were physically prevented from
    entering the building, Beta reported on Friday.


    CRITICISM OF LEADERSHIP OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SERBIA

    12 former prominent members of the Democratic Party of Serbia
    [former member of the Zajedno coalition, which stood independently
    in the local elections] sent an open letter to their leadership on
    Friday.

    The letter criticized the party leadership for diverging from its
    programme of 1992 that proclaimed unity with the opposition, Beta
    reported on Friday. The letter also blamed the party leadership
    for staying on the sidelines and keeping out of the protests at
    the November election fraud which had also affected them.


    BELGIAN SOLDIER KILLED IN VUKOVAR

    A Belgian soldier in Eastern Slavonia was killed on Friday, Willi
    Hanset, UNTAES Major General, stated on Friday. In the shoot-out
    near the UN HQ in Vukovar, a Jordanian soldier was also wounded
    and a civil policeman, FoNet reported.


    GENERAL STRIKE ANNOUNCED

    Tomislav Banovic, chair of the Council of Independent Trade Unions
    of Serbia, announced in Pirot on Friday that this trade union
    would go on general strike if the Serbian Government failed to
    change the Labour Law and adopt the model for property
    transformation proposed by the trade union, Beta reported on
    Friday.


    AWARD FOR TOLERANCE PRESENTED

    Representatives of Student Protest 96/97 were presented with the
    Award for Tolerance by the daily 'Nasa Borba' on Friday. Latinka
    Perovic, president of the jury, said that the students had made
    violence non-sensical in their stand-off with the police.


    JOVIC: MANY DECISIONS MADE BY SERBIAN FIRST LADY

    The Friday issue of the Guardian carried an interview with former
    Vice-President of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Borisav Jovic. In
    that interview, Mr. Jovic called on Serbian President Slobodan
    Milosevic to accept the failure of his party in the local
    elections and reduce the influence of his wife over politics in
    Serbia if he wished to stay in power.

    Mr. Jovic stated that there were many Socialists who opposed
    President Milosevic's policy and that there was a possibility that
    another ``democratic leftist'' party would be formed out of the
    wing that opposed party hard-liners. Mr. Jovic concluded that the
    police would turn against President Milosevic if he tried to use
    force against the demonstrators.

    Prepared by: Marija Milosavljevic
    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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