YUGOSLAVIA: MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE GATHER IN DOWNTOWN BELGRADE FOR DEMONSTRATION TO MARK 2ND ANNIVERSAY OF NATO'S BOMBING OF SERBIA
Record ID:
648024
YUGOSLAVIA: MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE GATHER IN DOWNTOWN BELGRADE FOR DEMONSTRATION TO MARK 2ND ANNIVERSAY OF NATO'S BOMBING OF SERBIA
- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE GATHER IN DOWNTOWN BELGRADE FOR DEMONSTRATION TO MARK 2ND ANNIVERSAY OF NATO'S BOMBING OF SERBIA
- Date: 24th March 2001
- Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (MARCH 24, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. PAN SHOT OF THE RALLY CALLED BY SOCIALIST PARTY 0.09 2. CLOSE-UP OF FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC'S PHOTOGRAPH 0.12 3. WS/SLV OF RALLY (2 SHOTS) 0.18 4. SV: SOCIALIST PARTY OFFICIALS ON THE STAGE APPLAUDING 0.25 5. WIDESHOT OF THE RALLY 0.28 6. SCU: FORMER YUGOSLAV FOREIGN MINISTER, ZIVADIN JOVANOVIC ADDRESSING THE RALLY 0.39 7. SV: GUESTS FROM ABROAD ON THE STAGE, APPLAUDING 0.44 8. SV: A GUEST FROM GREECE ADDRESSING THE RALLY 0.56 9. SV: PEOPLE ON STAGE CHEERING 1.01 10. VARIOUS OF THE RALLY 1.08 11. WS: SPS OFFICIAL ON STAGE WAVING YUGOSLAV FLAG 1.18 12. SV/SCU: SOCIALIST PARTY OFFICIALS DURING THE RALLY (2 SHOTS) 1.23 13. WIDESHOT OF RALLY 1.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 8th April 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA7981570UHMC8BQKEHGBP6FT74
- Story Text: More than 5,000 people have gathered in downtown
Belgrade at an anti-NATO rally organised by the Socialist
Party of ousted Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
The rally -- named "We must not forget, this must not
repeat" -- was held to commemorate the Alliance's 1999 bombing
of Yugoslavia, and the turnout appeared beyond expectations,
given the plunging popularity of Milosevic's socialists.
Many in the crowd held up pictures of Milosevic, nicknamed
"Slobo". But the former president, who has rarely left his
house in a posh Belgrade residential area since his demise,
did not attend.
NATO's air campaign from March 24 to June 12 1999
effectively halted repression of majority ethnic Albanians in
the southern Kosovo province by Milosevic's security forces.
But the bombing killed 520 Serb civilians and around 750
police and army members, according to Vecernje Novosti daily,
and left many Serbs angry at the alliance.
Milosevic conceded electoral defeat to reformists amid a
mass uprising last October and bowed out after a decade in
power.
Somewhat ironically, Saturday's rally was held at the
Republic Square, known for huge anti-Milosevic gatherings the
opposition staged there in the 1990s. As loudspeakers blared
with patriotic songs, the crowd chanted "Slobo, Slobo", "NATO
fascists" and "We won't give anyone up" -- a reference to
Western demands that Yugoslavia hand over its war crimes
suspects, indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal.
Milosevic himself and four top aides have been indicted by
the tribunal for attrocities in Kosovo.
Most reformist leaders from Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant
republic, were ostensibly absent from anniversary ceremonies,
underscoring what analysts believe is an increasing rift
between them and Kostunica.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None