From: Serbian Information Initiative

Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia, alt.beograd

Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 23:14:32 -0500

e-mail: beograd@siicom.com URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/

odrazb92@b92.opennet.org http://www.siicom.com/b92/

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Copyright 1996 Radija B92. NEWS BY 11 PM

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Draskovic: Milosevic Will not Use Force

In an interview given to Radio B92 today, President of the Serbian

Renewal Movement Vuk Draskovic said that ``having announced that

the police will prevent Belgraders form walking down the streets

of their city in protest against the electoral fraud and the

terror perpetrated by the authorities -- Milosevic has played his

final card. This is a bluff, an obvious attempt to frighten the

citizens of Belgrade.'' Draskovic then continued: ``He will not --

and we know that for a fact -- he will not use force, nor is he

considering that option at all seriously. There will be no

violence. However, should Belgraders be frightened by threats and

insults to this city, he would definitely make his electoral fraud

final,'' Draskovic said. He then emphasized: ``We're winning as it

is, coming out to the streets peacefully and in the numbers you

have seen.'' On behalf of the leaders of ``Zajedno'' Draskovic

announced that ``We will sing and make friends with the police.

The whole world is watching Belgrade today,'' concluded Draskovic.

Student Protest '96: Today's Events

The 9th official day of Student Protest '96 was marked by a

spectacular walk through downtown Belgrade in very cold weather

and sleet. The student rally began at 12:00 noon with the reading

of a Protest '96 response to the President of the Serbian

Parliament Dragan Tomic.

``UofB students are not minors but full citizens of this

community, who with full judicial and moral responsibility go out

into the streets every day. Where were you when our peers, because

they were ordered to by the regime you yourself belong to, were

getting killed in Vukovar and elsewhere? As long as you could use

us for your blood-letting, our age did not concern you,'' read in

part the response.

A cheering column of students then walked down the streets of

Belgrade. The single occasion when they came in touch with the

police happened in front of the US, which was guarded by a heavy

turnout of the special forces of the Ministry of Interior. No

incidents whatsoever occurred.

Students presented each of the policemen with a flower. The

protest is to continue tomorrow, starting from 12.00

Students in Pristina Stage a Protest

A protest meeting took place in the Students' Center in Pristina

today, attended by some 300 students of the University in

Pristina.

The Initiative Board of Student Protest Pristina '96 issued a

statement condemning the statement given by Dragan Tomic, which

``classed the protest against the voiding of the electoral will of

the citizens [of Serbia] as a fascist movement,'' said Tomislav

Novovic, member of the Initiative Board Students in Pristina

called on both President Milosevic and the Dean of University in

Pristina to address them.

Novovic added that the protest in Pristina is to continue

tomorrow.

Students Call on Radio Television Serbia Employees to Stop

Broadcasting Lies

Students of the Faculty of Arts, ``provoked by last night's

shameful reporting by RTS'' sent an open letter to the employees

of RTS, urging them to ``take a decisive stand against violations

of journalist ethics exercised by poltroons in the newsroom of

RTS.'' ``As your colleagues-to-be, we are appalled that we could

ever be asked to take part in such manipulation of truth and facts

. . . By editing in lies, by shooting false frames, by producing

fake footage and by broadcasting nonexistent information, you

class yourselves as the most shameful generation of journalists

that ever broadcast on air in this country. Stop participating in

the political-propaganda targeted against those who defend the

fundamental right of the citizens of Serbia: the right of free

choice! Stop broadcasting your shows, refuse to take part in the

deception of your own people,'' said the letter sent to the RTS

employees.

Vojvodina Reformists Demand Validation of Nov 17 Results

Vojvodina Reformists demand that the results of the second round

of elections in Serbia be recognized as legally valid and binding

and support the demand by coalition ``Zajedno'' that the Serbian

Parliament to set up a multi-party commission to investigate the

recent elections and establish the true electoral results. The

statement of the Executive Council of the Reform Democratic Party

also demands an end to the spreading of fear among the citizens

and calls on the government to acknowledge the legitimacy of

peaceful demonstrations and other non-violent forms of civil

disobedience.

Borisav Novakovic, spokesman for the Regional Board of the

Democratic Party, stated today that ``if the authorities resort to

repression against the demonstrators in Belgrade, coalition

''Zajedno`` will call on the citizens of Novi Sad to go to the

streets in support of the Belgraders.''

Comments by Radio Belgrade

Radio Belgrade's main afternoon news program ``The News of the

Day'' made comments along the lines of last night's RTS' News,

saying among other things that coalition ``Zajedno'' and their

Montenegrin counterparts were defeated in the recent elections,

that their representatives have acted unethically if not

illegally, that Belgrade has been a scene of pandemonium, with

crowds shouting, swearing and threatening fellow citizens for days

on end. Radio Belgrade said that Vuk Draskovic had put his wife's

alleged call-to-arms into effect by inviting the demonstrators to

throw eggs, stones and bricks on prominent Belgrade buildings and

that this behavior, although it might befit the Coalition leaders,

does not suit members of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts.

They said Mica Popovic, one of Yugoslavia's greatest contemporary

painters, offered the youth the Bucharest scenario, encouraging

them to risk death for the benefit of the opposition leaders.

Draskovic was described as a foreign mercenary.

The radio's correspondent from Nis described the demonstrations

there as ``mentally violent,'' having deeper and more destructive

effect than physical violence.