YUGOSLAVIA: Opposition Defiant, but Fears Repression

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric-Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Dec 26 1996 (IPS) - Despite fears that President Slobodan Milosevic plans a crackdown on the massive daily marches which have continued here for five weeks, Serbian Opposition leaders are vowing to continue their protest.

“I will continue marching and I am calling on the citizens to march along with me,” said Vuk Draskovic, a leader of Zajedno, the oppositon coalition that has coordinated the marches against the alleged rigging of the Nov. 17 municipal elections in various Serbian cities.

After allowing the protests to continue unimpeded, the government and its supporters took to the streets this week, resulting in clashes which left 58 people injured.

And late on Wednesday, Belgrade police issued a stern warning to “all those who block the normal traffic and life in the capital”, saying that it will “act according to the law and duty” to prevent furhter disturbance of public order.

Violent clashes erupted after Milosevic and his ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) organised a rally in support of his politics in central Belgrade Tuesday. This was staged at the same time and only hundreds of metres away from the regular meeting point of Zajedno protesters.

Some 40,000 Milosevic supporters, brought from the provincial towns of Serbia in organised columns of buses and trains, faced 250,000 Zajedno symphatisers. Eggs, apples, cabbage, stones were tossed and fistfights erupted at several spots. In the most serious incident, an SPS member fired into the opposition crowd wounding a man in the head.

On Thursday the victim was still fighting for his life in hospital. The police separated the two groups only when it appeared more violence was likely.

Milosevic’s speech, his first adress to public since the Zajedno protest started, was mostly dedicated to “fifth column”, or “those who try do destabilise Serbia” as he called the opposition parties. Belgrade TV, which supports the government, put the number of his supporters at the rally at 500,000.

There has been contemnation of Tuesday’s events which. U.S. state department official Strobe Talbott said Washington “holds the Serbian government and its president, Slobodan Milosevic, responsible for the violent actions of the demonstrators.” There were similar criticisms from other Western capitals.

Zajedno leaders said Milosevic was heading towards further repression and even civil war. Analysts said the government had tried to provoke trouble in order to declare a state of emergency.

Draskovic said: “Only mentally disturbed men can bring in drunken and armed crowds with special tasks – to make blood flow in this town.

And Vesna Pesic, another Zajedno leaders said Milosevic wanted to “create an incident, perhaps even bloodshed in our country.

“It’s thanks to the restraint and exceptional patience of the opposition demonstrators that a larger confrontation was avoided,” added Zoran Djindjic, the third leader of Zajedno.

A fact-finding mission from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) visited Belgrade last weekend on Milosevic’s invitation and is due to publish its report on Nov. 17 local elections later this week.

Belgrade university students who have also protesting peacefully for more than five weeks, accused Milosevic of bringing Belgrade to the brink of civil war. In a letter to the Serbian leader the students denounced the holding of a pro-government rally at the same time and place as an opposition demonstration.

That statement call was followed by a warning from the head of Serbia’s Orthodox church, Patriarch Pavle, to both Milosevic and opposition leaders saying they should end their confrontation. Patriarch Pavle urged both sides to “maximum restraint”.

The 82-year-old patriarch said that both sides should resist confrontation, “especially members of the ruling parties behind whom stand the armed forces of the present order”.

Circles close to the ruling party declined to comment on possibility of regime’s introduction of state of emergency. But, privately they admit their surprise after the small turnout of Milosevic supporters facing the crowd of 250,000 Zajedno symphatisers in Belgrade streets.

Milosevic rose to power nine years ago with rallies organised in mostly the same manner as on Tuesday which drew much larger crowds.

The low turnout, sources in SPS say, has shown the weaknesses and unpopularity of the regime. “We have been made a mockery of,” said one party activist after Tuesday’s pro-government rally. “The harder we try to show our popularity, the harder the job seems to be” he admitted.