YUGOSLAVIA: LEADERS OF THE SERB OPPOSITION COALITION, ZAJEDNO, URGE SUPPORTERS TO KEEP UP PRESSURE ON THE NEO-COMMUNIST REGIME
Record ID:
646067
YUGOSLAVIA: LEADERS OF THE SERB OPPOSITION COALITION, ZAJEDNO, URGE SUPPORTERS TO KEEP UP PRESSURE ON THE NEO-COMMUNIST REGIME
- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: LEADERS OF THE SERB OPPOSITION COALITION, ZAJEDNO, URGE SUPPORTERS TO KEEP UP PRESSURE ON THE NEO-COMMUNIST REGIME
- Date: 23rd November 1996
- Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (NOVEMBER 23, 1996) (RTV (A) - ACCESS ALL) 1. MV VUK DRASKOVIC, WHO LEADS THE SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT (SPO) IN THE ZAJEDNO COALITION, AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.05 2. SLV CONFERENCE ROOM/ JOURNALISTS 0.10 3. SCU DRASKOVIC SAYING, "THANK YOU FOR THE STATEMENTS FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION YESTERDAY, BUT WHAT WE NEED IS NOT STATEMENTS BUT ACTION, WE NEED LAW EXPERTS OF EUROPEAN UNION, UNITED STATES TO BE HERE TOMORROW MORNING" (ENGLISH) 0.39 4. SLV JOURNALISTS 0.48 5. LV PROTESTERS GATHERED IN MAIN CITY SQUARE 0.55 6. SLV PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNERS/ CHANTING ANTI-COMMUNIST SLOGANS 1.00 7. LV CROWD OF PROTESTERS GATHERED IN SQUARE 1.09 8. LV PROTESTERS MARCHING THROUGH THE STREETS 1.12 9. SLV PEOPLE WAVING FROM THE WINDOWS 1.16 10. LV PROTESTERS GATHERED IN A SQUARE 1.19 11. MV SPEAKER TALKING TO THE CROWD 1.27 12. TV CROWDS CHEERING 1.30 13. MV/LV PEOPLE MARCHING 1.46 14. LV EVENING - PROTESTERS BOOING OUTSIDE SERBIAN TV CENTRE 2.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 8th December 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA4KJ9BAATEHT9R3AR5W9SK70OZ
- Story Text: INTRO: - Leaders of the Serb opposition coalition, Zajedno, have urged supporters to keep up pressure on the neo-Communist regime which stands accused of rigging municipal elections in Serbia.
Thousands of supporters of the Serb opposition coalition marched through Belgrade on Saturday (November 23), for the sixth day in a row to protest at the annulment of local elections in several Serbian districts.
Some 10,000 people, led by Zoran Djindjic, leader of the opposition coalition who is seen as a candidate for the first non-communist mayor of Belgrade, walked past the state-run TV Belgrade building booing and chanting "Red bandits" The opposition leaders and their supporters demand the authorities reverse their decision to annul local election results which would have awarded the opposition victory in most of the biggest Serbian towns.
The opposition parties have vowed to maintain pressure on President Slobodan Milosevic ahead of a Sunday deadline for courts to rule on whether the ruling Socialists cheated them of election victory.
Vuk Draskovic, who leads the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) in the Zajedno coalition, called upon the European Union countries and the United States for more action.
"Thank you for the statements from the European Unions yesterday, but what we need is not statements but action. We need European Union and United States law experts here tomorrow morning," he told journalists.
Western powers were slow to react to the opposition charges but after several days of protests the United States and Britain have voiced grave concerns about possible fraud.
Privately many opposition leaders fear the Western powers are reluctant to intervene for fear of alienating Milosevic, a pivotal figure in the Balkans who forced the Bosnian Serbs to accept the Dayton accords and made peace with Bosnia and Croatia.
Opposition leaders said they were preparing to expand the protests if the courts failed to uphold their victory.
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