Serbia Police Beat Protesters

Baton-wielding police attacked thousands of university students marching on the Serbian parliament building Tuesday, where President Slobodan Milosevic's allies agreed to discuss opposition demands for early general elections.

Dozens of armed police clashed with the crowd of more than 2,000. At least 10 protesters were beaten, as others fled in all directions. Five people were injured, some remaining motionless on the pavement, witnesses said.

Retreating students shouted: Â"Slobodan to the Hague!Â" referring to the U.N. tribunal which charged the Yugoslav president with war crimes.

Parliament's offer to discuss early general elections did not guarantee the date would be moved up. The chances for such an agreement were further diminished when the largest opposition party walked out of the legislature.

The students rallied in cold winds and drizzle against Milosevic and his autocratic regime in Belgrade, capital of both Yugoslavia and Serbia, its dominant republic.

Opposition parties later staged their own separate march, but about 5,000 of their supporters were prevented from marching to the downtown parliament building by a cordon of riot police.

Protest organizers said police -- backed by armored vehicles -- blocked opposition supporters from arriving in Belgrade from other Serbian towns. Only three out of 26 buses with opposition activists managed to evade the police blockade.

The legislature -- dominated by Milosevic supporters -- was also to discuss a proposed law on local self-rule, which could be used to divert authority from opposition governments in towns and cities to state officials.

Parliament's decision to discuss early parliamentary and presidential elections came as a surprise. Milosevic's government has said there is no need for an early vote because there is no crisis in the country.

Representing opposition views, Milan Mikovic of the Serbian Renewal Movement said: Â"Democratic elections would be the first step toward the end of the country's international isolation.Â"

Leaders from the opposition Alliance for Change returned from a trip to the United States last week with pledges that a ban on flights and oil sales would be lifted once free and fair elections were held. They also received promises of financial aid to bolster pro-democracy forces.

Soon after parliament agreed to discuss early elections, 40 Serbian Renewal Movement deputies -- the largest opposition party in the legislature -- walked out to protest parliament's refusal to form a committee to investigate recent deaths of four party members in a hit-and-run car crash.

The Movement's leader, Vuk Draskovic, who survived the crash with slight injuries, has accused Milosevic's authorities of trying to kill him.

Without Draskovic's deputies at the session, the parliament was unlikely to call early elections, and Mikovic dismissed the readiness of pro-Milosevic legislators o discuss the issue as purely a Â"tactical maneuver.Â"

Â"They are afraid of elections and have no real intention to hold them,Â" he said.

By Katarina Kratovac
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