Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

---

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    Odraz B92 vesti (by 11 PM), December 11, 1996

    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    All texts are Copyright 1996 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------



    NEWS BY 11 PM
    ------------------------------------------------------------------


    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SUPPORTS BELGRADE PROTESTS

    Members of the European Parliament today expressed solidarity with
    the people of Belgrade, whose peaceful demonstrations express a
    clear demand for democracy, political pluralism and respect for
    the will of the voters. At today's session, the EU parliament
    adopted a resolution by which it insists the official Belgrade
    recognize the validity of Nov. 17 election results. The resolution
    also calls for an impartial investigation of the conditions
    surrounding the recent elections in Serbia. According to the EU
    resolution, any investigation board charged with this task should
    include members of the opposition. The European Parliament also
    called on the Council of the Foreign Ministers of EU to make it
    clear to the Serbian authorities that their anti-democratic
    actions are absolutely unacceptable and that the European union
    will reject Yugoslavia's requests for trading concessions until
    the Serbian authorities show a true commitment which will
    guarantee fair and free elections and freedom of the media in
    their country.


    PROTEST RALLY BY COALITION ZAJEDNO

    Supporters of coalition Zajedno held another street protest in
    Belgrade today. By now, they have been protesting for twenty-two
    days. At today's rally, leader of the Democratic Party, Zoran
    Djindjic said that these demonstrations are ``the point from which
    Serbia enters the European civilization. Thanks to us, Serbia need
    not be ashamed any longer.''  He also added that ``Zajedno does
    not aim to take power, for its own sake, but to set the criteria
    for the future governing of this country.''

    Mrs. Vesna Pesic, leader of the Civic Alliance of Serbia, appealed
    to the West to find ways to punish Milosevic without imposing
    sanctions and further economic isolation on Serbian people.

    Leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic said that
    these protests are a ``decisive battle for the survival of
    Belgrade and Serbia, and there is no reason for giving way now. We
    can only move forward.''


    ARMY COLONEL CONDEMNS THE ANNULMENT OF ELECTION RESULTS

    Today's issue of the Belgrade newspaper ``Dnevni Telegraf''
    reports that colonel Milorad Veskovic gave a statement saying that
    the Supreme Headquarters of the Yugoslav Army are ambivalent about
    the recent electoral manipulations and added that ``the annulment
    of the electoral results violates the Constitution. The army is
    obliged to protect the Constitution and to take a stand. Either we
    will be on the streets as an aid to the police force, or we will
    support the demands of the people,'' said colonel Veskovic in his
    statement to ``Dnevni Telegraf.''

    Journalists of that newspaper called the army Information Service
    to get confirmation of the statements made by Veskovic. The
    officer on the other side of the line told them that he was not
    able to confirm anything, but that what he knew for sure was that
    the soldiers are in their barracks. Later on, First Army
    Information Service announced to the public that ``not only is
    Veskovic not a member of the Commanding Office, but he is not even
    a professional army officer.''


    STUDENTS SEND AN OPEN LETTER TO MIRA MARKOVIC

    Students of the School of Fine Arts today sent an open letter to
    Mira Markovic, leader of the Yugoslav United Left, in which,
    responding to her remarks about the student protests, they listed
    a number of occasions when the youth was used and manipulated to
    further the interests of the Left Coalition.


    SLOGANS FROM TODAY'S STUDENT PROTEST

    Today's protest of Belgrade students showed some new banner-signs:
    ``Serbian Supreme Court: We Annul the Miss World Elections,''
    ``Miracle Cure for Sore Feet Sold Here!'' and others in the same
    vein.


    PROTESTS IN NIS DIE DOWN

    In today's protest in Nis, only one tenth of the number of
    protesters from previous days appeared in the streets. It is hard
    to say if the people are tired or out of patience, but it was
    clear that taxi-drivers and workers ignored the protest.


    RUSSIAN MEDIA CRITICIZE OFFICIAL MOSCOW

    Today, Russian media again criticized official Moscow for ``taking
    Milosevic's side and failing to support democratic changes in
    Serbia,'' reports Russian NTV television.


    DEMOCRATIZATION WILL BENEFIT THE BALKANS

    ``The Greek government has made it known to Yugoslav authorities
    that democratization is in the interest of stability in the
    Balkans and the way for Serbia to gain entry into the EU,'' said
    Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece, Iorgos Papandreu today. He also
    added that Greece views the current protests in Belgrade and other
    cities in Serbia as an internal affair of FR Yugoslavia.

    Prepared by: Aleksandra Scepanovic
    Edited by: Vaska Andjelkovic (Tumir)

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
    ------------------------------------------------------------------