YUGOSLAVIA: SERBIAN OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS MAKE THEIR WAY TO BELGRADE FOR RALLY AS STAFF AT MILOSEVIC'S STATE SERBIAN TELEVISION GO ON STRIKE

Record ID: 500964

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: SERBIAN OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS MAKE THEIR WAY TO BELGRADE FOR RALLY AS STAFF AT MILOSEVIC'S STATE SERBIAN TELEVISION GO ON STRIKE
  • Date: 5th October 2000
  • Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (OCTOBER 5, 2000) (REUTERS) WIDE OF PROTESTERS GATHERING IN FRONT OF THE SERBIAN RADIO TELEVISION (RTS) VARIOUS OF RTS WORKERS HOLDING PEACEFUL PROTEST (2 SHOTS) SMV FUTURE MAJOR OF BELGRADE MILAN ST. PROTIC JOINING THE PROTEST WIDE OF RUINS OF THE RTS BUILDING HIT IN NATO AIRSTRIKES WIDE OF PROTESTORS SCU SOUNDBITE (Serbian) UNIDENTIFIED RTS WORKER SAYING: "My colleague and myself left work yesterday. We are from RTS in Pancevo. There are 30 more people still working there. People are scared, so we did not call on anyone to join us." "Everyone is well aware of the present situation, and the way it will be if it continues. If things remain the way they are now, we are definitely not going back (to work)." WIDE OF PROTESTORS GATHERED, PAN TO DAMAGED BROADCASTING BUILDING (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS, TRUCKS IN REPUBLICS SQUARE IN BELGRADE WHERE THE OPPOSITION RALLY IS SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE AT 1300 GMT VARIOUS OF WORKERS CONSTRUCTING THE STAGE (3 SHOTS) SMV ENGINEERS ORGANISING SOUND SYSTEM SMV , WORKMAN BUILDING STAGE SLV SQUARE VARIOUS, LINES OF CARS, BUSES AND TRUCKS ARRIVING FROM ALL OVER SERBIA FOR THE OPPOSITION RALLY (5 SHOTS) VARIOUS, PEOPLE WAVING FLAGS, CARS HONKING, PEOPLE WAVING FROM VEHICLES AS CONVOYS OF VEHICLES GO TOWARDS BELGRADE (10 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 20th October 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Communications,Employment,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5RX3XGFRSED96I2D70O0Z1PPQ
  • Story Text: While Serb opposition supporters from several towns pushed their way through police cordons and headed for Belgrade on Thursday (October 5) for a huge rally to force President Slobodan Milosevic to concede election defeat, employees at Serbian Television, one of the greatest promoters of the Yugoslav President, went on strike.
    Journalists at state media giant Radio Television Serbia (RTS) went on strike on Thursday (October 5) as the wave of opposition protest headed towards a climax.
    Employees staged a peaceful protest outside the building that was hit by NATO bombs last year.
    One employee said he and his colleagues were determined to continue the strike, but also said some of the television workers were scared to take part.
    "My colleague and myself left work yesterday. We are from RTS in Pancevo. There are 30 more people still working there.
    People are scared, so we did not call on anyone to join us."
    "Everyone is well aware of the present situation, and the way it will be if it continues. If things remain the way they are now, we are definitely not going back (to work)," he added.
    As well as keeping complete control over the media owned or run by the state, Milosevic used political tensions over Kosovo that led up to last years NATO bombing to introduce a very restrictive information law, enabling him to shut down or take over some non-government media and levy hefty fines on others.
    As the media workers protested, a stage was being built for the opposition rally called for 3 pm (1300gmt) in the Republics Square in Belgrade. Protesters from all over Serbia were expected to brave police lines and attend.
    The mass rally is expected to be a climax of a civil disobedience campaign that has swept Serbia since Monday, with a growing number of workers joining the strike and road blockades.
    Opposition supporters are due to come from Vranje, Leskovac, Subotica, Nis, Kikinda, Zrenjanin, Pancevo, Uzice, Cacak, Loznica and Sabac -- all towns where protests have been strong.
    In a surprise move on Wednesday, the federal constitutional court annulled part of the presidential election in a ruling which one opposition leader saw as a cancellation of the entire vote.
    The court said it would explain on Thursday what its decision meant, but the opposition said it would go ahead with its rally anyway in front of the parliament building.
    The opposition has given Milosevic and the state-run election commission until Thursday early afternoon to concede defeat in poll and announce the true results.
    The Yugoslav election commission has said opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica failed to win the 50 percent of the September 24 election needed for outright victory and ordered a run-off between him and Milosevic on Sunday. The opposition has said it will not take part.
    The opposition did not make clear what it would do if Milosevic refused to concede defeat, but called people from all over the country to gather for the rally to show the extent of public opposition to what they called massive election fraud.
    Determined to reach Belgrade to vent their anger at what they see as the theft of an opposition election victory, a column of vehicles from Cacak pushed aside trucks put by police in two places along a highway leading to the capital.
    The convoy of vehicles that set out from the central town of Cacak at around 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) included around 50 buses and stretched for some 20 km, with opposition and Serbian flags fluttering out of the windows.
    The protesters had loaded a bulldozer on one truck in case it was needed to clear police road blocks. It was joined by traffic convoys from towns which they passed on the way.
    Two trailers had been placed on the road near the town of Rudnik, but were pushed aside without police intervening. The same happened near Lajkovac. The Beta news agency said riot police at one point had formed a three-line cordon, but that the column pushed them and the trucks behind them aside.
    Serb riot police backed up by water cannon blocked a convoy of 20 buses and 150 cars from the southern town of Nis, an opposition stronghold. But it was later let through after Serb opposition leaders got out of their cars and talked to police.
    Some 50 private cars which set out from the southern town of Vranje, a Milosevic stronghold, were halted by police for a "technical checkup," a measure frequently used to stop protesters.
    jrc/DP
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