(14 Apr 2000) STORY
Serbo-Croat/Nat
More than 100-thousand people have taken part in a protest in Belgrade against Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic.
It was the biggest opposition gathering in the city since August last year, and the first since opposition leaders signed a joint declaration against Milosevic in January.
Milosevic's Communist allies warned the gathering was aimed at destabilising Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic.
In one of the biggest protests so far against the autocratic rule of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, over 100-thousand opposition supporters streamed to central Belgrade on Friday to demand democratic elections and an end to state oppression.
Waving flags and chanting "Slobo go away", students, professionals and pensioners packed into Belgrade's Republic Square to join forces against the strongman's grip on Yugoslavia.
The protest was the biggest opposition gathering in Belgrade since last August and the first since the traditionally squabbling and fractured opposition leaders came together in January to sign a joint declaration against Milosevic.
Pro-democracy leaders wanted the crowds to show the dissatisfaction with Milosevic's rule and Serbia's plummeting living conditions, even as it demonstrates a united front against the regime.
Government officials have been cracking down on free media, opposition leaders and their supporters since NATO launched a 78-day air war against the country last year.
Opposition party leader Vuk Draskovic, was given a rapturous reception as he took to the stage to address the crowd.
He made clear his contempt for the country's incumbent regime.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbian)
"This is the only state in the world today where the deputy prime minister publicly, on state television, points to people, citizens, who are according to him, supposed to be executed."
SUPER CAPTION: Vuk Draskovic, Opposition Party Leader
He was joined on stage by other opposition party leaders, including Zoran Djindjic and Vladan Batic.
Despite the country's overall economic and social decline, Milosevic has ignored opposition demands for early elections.
Milosevic's Communist allies warned on Friday that the gathering was aimed at destabilising Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic.
The state-run Tanjug news agency quoted a party in the ruling coalition as saying the opposition rally was an unpatriotic attempt organized by "pro-American stooges ... to crush the country's unity"
Serbia is internationally isolated and impoverished a year after NATO bombed the country to stop Milosevic's repression of ethnic Albanians in the southern province of Kosovo.
Tensions rose early in the day, as police moved reinforcements to the capital even as convoys of opposition supporters also swept to the centre -many on them on foot.
Thousands of riot policemen took up positions inside key government buildings.
Police patrols, at toll booths leading into the city, turned back buses bringing opposition supporters to the capital to protest.
Demonstrators were undeterred, setting out to walk the remaining kilometers (miles), streaming through the suburbs, jamming streets and bridges, waving flags and carrying posters.
Government officials have warned of possible "terrorist acts" during the rally.
Seeking to undermine media coverage of the protest, authorities withheld passports and detained a group of foreign journalists at the airport, preventing them from entering the country to cover the rally.
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