YUGOSLAVIA: ANTI MILOSEVIC PROTESTS AND BLOCKADES CONTINUE BUT BELGADE BLOCKADE FAILS TO SHUT DOWN THE CAPITAL
Record ID:
636809
YUGOSLAVIA: ANTI MILOSEVIC PROTESTS AND BLOCKADES CONTINUE BUT BELGADE BLOCKADE FAILS TO SHUT DOWN THE CAPITAL
- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: ANTI MILOSEVIC PROTESTS AND BLOCKADES CONTINUE BUT BELGADE BLOCKADE FAILS TO SHUT DOWN THE CAPITAL
- Date: 2nd October 2000
- Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (OCTOBER 2, 2000)(REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RALLY, DEMONSTRATORS STANDING IN FRONT OF/ AND IN TRAMS BLOCKING ROADS (7 SHOTS) WIDE OF DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED IN SQUARE IN BELGRADE SLV DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING GIANT BANNER/ CHANTING (2 SHOTS) SMV CROWD CLAPPING IN SUPPORT OF PROTESTORS VARIOUS, DEMONSTRATION MARCHING THROUGH REPUBLIC SQUARE (2 SHOTS) WIDE OF DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING TOWARDS FEDERAL STATISTICS BUREAU SMV SECURITY PERSONNEL /POLICE GUARDING STATISTICS BUREAU /PROTESTORS (3 SHOTS) WIDE OF PEOPLE PROTESTING IN FRONT OF THE FEDERAL STATISTICS BUREAU
- Embargoed: 17th October 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELGRADE AND PANCEVO, YUGOSLAVIA
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA31YSFDR285PE6HDYYTBU88CUG
- Story Text: A wave of protest against President Slobodan Milosevic
is rolling across Yugoslavia, scoring notable successes in
some areas but so far failing to shut down the capital
Belgrade.
Yugoslavia's opposition leader has criticised both Russia
and the United States, accusing Moscow of indecision and
Washington of indirectly helping Milosevic's cause.
In Serbia, protesters on Monday (October 2) blocked
roads, miners staged strikes and children skipped school in
support of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's election
challenger Vojislav Kostunica.
Protests brought a string of towns to a halt, but failed
to make much impact on key state institutions in the capital,
where sporadic road blockades lasted just a few hours.
In Belgrade, most shops opened, major state institutions
were unaffected and by late morning the city was almost back
to normal.
It was a far cry from the total paralysis which opposition
leaders had called for at the weekend.
They had urged a general strike in a bid to force
Milosevic to concede that Kostunica won outright victory in
the first round of presidential elections on September 24.
The state electoral committee ruled last week that his
share of the vote fell just short of 50 per cent and ordered a
runoff next Sunday, which the opposition says it will boycott.
The most serious protests, at coal mines serving Serbia's
two largest thermal power plants, threatened to plunge large
parts of the country into darkness.
At a news conference later in the day, Kostunica slammed
Russia and the United States, accusing Moscow of indecision
and Washington of indirectly helping Milosevic's cause.
He said the Russians, who have offered to mediate but
issued ambiguous statements, had not made up their minds what
to do.
"The Russian policy has so far been indecisive and
reluctant, I would say unnecessarily so. It could be described
as taking one step forward and one step back," Kostunica said.
"The Russians don't have a specific and concrete position
on the situation in Yugoslavia," he added.
He also said the United States had helped to turn the
presidential election into a matter of survival for Milosevic
by insisting he stand trial for war crimes before a U.N.
tribunal.
"The policy of the current U.S. authorities, whether they
praise Milosevic as they have in the past or threaten him with
The Hague tribunal as they are doing now, actually supports
him but I think this support will be short-lived," Kostunica
said.
"In fact, it could be a matter of life and death for some
figures of the current U.S. administration," he added of
Washington's apparent determination to oust Milosevic before
the U.S. presidential election. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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