Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    Odraz B92 vesti (by 3 PM), December 12, 1996

    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
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    All texts are Copyright 1996 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 3 PM
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    RADIO B92 CONCLUDED A CONTRACT WITH THE RTS

    General Manager of Radio B92, Sasa Mirkovic said in his statement
    in his today: ``The RTS and B92 today signed a contract
    formalizing our business relationship, which regulates the
    broadcasting of B92 via the transmitter owned by the state Radio-
    Television and located on the hill of Zvezdara. The contract,
    which will be valid for a period of ten years, with the
    possibility of automatic renewal, was signed by General Manager of
    the RTS, Dragoljub Milanovic, and General Manager of Radio B92,
    Sasa Mirkovic. With this contract, all doubts about the legality
    of the work of Radio B92 have been removed, and B92 will continue
    to exert itself to the utmost in order to get its own frequency.
    This contract is a great success for Radio B92 and a clear
    affirmation of our work so far. Radio B92 would like to use this
    occasion to, once again, thank everybody who, through their
    support, enabled B92 to continue its broadcasting.''


    BERISA SUPPORTS BELGRADE PROTESTS

    Albanian President, Sali Berisa, supported peaceful protests of
    the students and citizens in Belgrade, reports today newsagency
    Montena-fax. According to this agency, Berisa said that the
    protesters are ``fighting for justice and against Milosevic's
    totalitarian regime whose consequences can clearly be seen on
    Kosovo.'' He also said that Albanian political parties feel
    sympathy towards the demonstrations of the Belgrade opposition,
    although ``the opposition is essentially a nationalist one,''
    reports Montena-fax


    VOA BROADCASTS TV PROGRAM IN SERBIAN

    ``Voice of America'' (VOA) stated today that, mainly in response
    to the current events in Serbia, it will begin broadcasting a
    half-hour TV program in Serbian, reports AFP. The program will be
    called ``America Calls Serbia'' and will be broadcast five days a
    week. ``It is an example of how information voids can be filled in
    these post cold-war days,'' said one of the Managers of VOA.


    DJUKIC DENIES THE CLAIMS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

    Chairman of the Main Board of the Student Protest '96, Aleksandar
    Djukic said today that the student protest is a civil, not a
    nationalist one, as was implied in a recent ``New York Times''
    article. Djukic added: ``That estimation is wrong. We all have our
    national feelings, but it is a private thing. This is a protest of
    student-citizens against the annulment of our electoral will. It
    has nothing to do with nationalism.''


    NEW CITY HALL OF NOVI SAD CONSTITUTED

    At yesterday's constitutive session of Novi Sad's City Hall,
    Mihajlo Svilar, member of Zajedno, was elected the city's new
    mayor. the second ranking office in the municipal government went
    to Caslav Popovic, also member of Zajedno.


    BALETIC RELEASED

    Gojko Baletic, an actor who was arrested during the demonstrations
    in Belgrade yesterday, was released earlier today, says Baletic's
    lawyer Milan Vukovic. The actor was released around midnight. He
    was arrested yesterday afternoon and beaten by the police; he has
    suffered no serious injures.


    STUDENTS MARCH FROM NOVI SAD TO BELGRADE

    About 250 students of the University of Novi Sad, tomorrow between
    2 and 3 PM, will start their march towards Belgrade as an act of
    support for their colleagues from the Belgrade University,
    reported Radio B92 today.


    RADICALS SEE NO SOLUTION IN THE STREETS

    Head of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj, said today
    that ``for the Serbian Radicals, the rule of the Left Coalition is
    as bad a solution as would be the rule of the coalition Zajedno.''
    Seselj also had scathing remarks for the suggestion that the seats
    won in the Republic and Federal Parliaments be returned, as has
    been proposed by some members of Zajedno; he characterized this as
    ``a very stupid political move,'' analogous to voluntary autism.
    Seselj described the West's criticism of Milosevic as
    ``interfering in the internal affairs of Serbia'' and added that
    the support of the West ``has never been honest and true.''


    FREE TV IN NIS ON AIR

    Last night, within the channel of the local TV Nis, citizens of
    Nis could, for the first time, see a program produced by the Free
    Nis Television. This was the first time a Nis TV station broadcast
    reports on the demonstrations in that city. The program also
    featured a phone-in conversation with Vuk Draskovic and journalist
    Nenad Stefanovic from Belgrade's weekly ``Duga.''  The viewers
    were shown the original minutes from the elections, so they could
    see with their own eyes that the results had been changed after
    the elections. Many viewers later phoned the station, asking if
    what they had seen on the program was really true.


    FORMER RTS MANAGER AS INTERMEDIARY

    Today's issue of Belgrade's ``Dnevni Telegraf'' reports that
    Milorad Vucelic, former General Manager of RTS [main state-owned
    television], could play the role of an intermediary in future
    negotiations between Milosevic and the opposition.


    JOURNALISTS OF ``POLITIKA'' SEND PROTEST LETTER

    According to today's issue of Belgrade ``Blic'' newspaper, a group
    of twelve journalists of the daily ``Politika'' sent a protest
    letter to their General Manager, Dragan Hadji Antic, in which they
    condemn him for the way ``Politika'' has been covering (or not
    covering) the current events in Serbia.


    SLOGANS FROM TODAY'S PROTEST

    ``RTS: Serbian Poison Team'' and ``Children are our greatest
    resource. This year, we expect a bumper export crop...''

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

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    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/
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