World

Yugoslav Media Denounces Rally

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

August 19, 1999 / 11:37 AM EDT / CBS

The biggest rally against Slobodan Milosevic in years, a display in which 150,000 people called for his resignation, was denounced Friday by media loyal to the Yugoslav president.

"Failed Pro-NATO Rally" ran a headline in the government-run Politika daily, tucked away in the paper's midsection -- a sign that state-run media were attempting to downplay Thursday's protest.

Politika said only 25,000 attended the Belgrade rally.

"One can't tell who is more disappointed, the organizers, the participants or the NATO bosses and mentors," the state television said late Thursday.

Chanting "Resignation" and "Leave Slobo, leave," the crowd, the largest to attend an anti-Milosevic rally in two years, roared in approval every time the opposition speakers called for his removal.

Encouraged by the Belgraders' response, leaders of the pro-democracy movement reiterated their demands for Milosevic's unconditional resignation, rejecting any possibility of an early vote organized by the government.

"The citizens of Serbia want the removal of Slobodan Milosevic and they do not want compromise or any deal with the government," said Vladan Batic, one of the leaders of the Alliance for Change.

Batic said the group will wait until mid-September for Milosevic to step down before it organizes another Belgrade rally followed by a general strike and daily protests.

The rally was a major test for the fragmented opposition in its efforts to unseat Milosevic, who has led his country into four disastrous wars that have left it in economic ruin.

In an apparent attempt to keep people away, Belgrade police claimed Wednesday they had arrested a man with a "highly explosive device" and warned of possible bomb attacks at "massive public gatherings."

The police statement was read several times on state-run TV news, and parents were warned to keep their children inside during the planned rally.

On Thursday, Serbian TV, under Milosevic's strict control, also accused the United States of planning "terrorist actions" in Serbia.

As the rally began in front of the domed Yugoslav Parliament building, a tear gas canister was hurled near the speakers' stand, triggering brief stampede. One man was carried from the scene, apparently injured. The rally continued despite the strong smell of tear gas.

The two-hour protest ended without other incidents as riot police watched from inside the parliament building.

Some key opposition figures had said they would not attend, but apparently changed their minds after seeing the crowd.

Former deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic, the most charismatic speaker in the opposition, had said he would not be at the rally, but later appeared on stage to spell out his demands for Milosevic's ouster. "Serbia is in jail. We are in jail, because ... it is led by those who are totally isolated by the world," Draskovic said, referring to Milosevic's priah status among world leaders.

But he also denounced other opposition parties for making "unrealistic" plans of "some transitional governments" which no one will recognize and called for early elections in November, echoing a proposal by Milosevic's party.

Such talk triggered boos and chants of "Treason, treason!" As Draskovic left the speaker's stand, he was jeered by many in the crowd and some threw old newspapers at him and his bodyguards.