(2 Dec 1996) English/Nat
Around 80-thousand students in Serbia defied a government warning and rallied against President Slobodan Milosevic Monday, in the 15th successive day of protests.
They jeered and pelted government buildings with snowballs to protest Milosevic's annulment of election results.
The European Union said on Monday it was "gravely concerned" about recent developments in Serbia and urged the Serbian authorities to respect the democratic
rights of the country's citizens.
As a snowstorm blanketed the Serbian capital Belgrade, the main square was turned into a sea of umbrellas as around 80-thousand people gathered at the main city square to protest against President Slobodan Milosevic.
They are calling on Milosevic to recognise an opposition victory in November 17th local elections.
The Supreme Court, controlled by Milosevic, annulled the election, re-ran the voting and declared victory for his ruling Socialists.
But the protest is about more than this. Students are also protesting about living standards in Serbia where over half of the work force is unemployed and average salaries have plummeted dramatically.
When the wars began in 1989, thousands were sent to fight alongside rebel Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia. Hundreds did not return.
Others fled, dodging the draft.
Demonstrators are now demanding Milosevic's overthrow in the longest sustained challenge he has faced in nine years of power.
Earlier on Monday, the 15th day of protests, demonstrators marched through the streets of Belgrade.
Opposition leader Vuk Draskovic headed the rally along with his coalition partner Zoran Djindjic.
The crowd shouted and jeered as they walked.
Ahead fires lit up the snow-filled sky a fiery red.
Earlier, authorities warned they might use force against the demonstrators, but the police remained in place.
Some of the students even handed them carnations, but most of them fell to the ground.
The students had apparently sent an open letter to the police saying they did not want violence -- words, they said, were their only weapon.
SOUNDBITE:
"He can use violence against us, we will not reply, we will not reply, so we are not ready to give him any ammunition, any chance for things he's intending to do, and that's now visible to Europeans as well as Americans. Such man is not a factor of peace and stability, he's a factor of the no peace and no stability in spite of this we are democrats, we are for dialogue, we are for compromise, for meeting, we are giving a chance to President Milosevic to find a way, a legal way, through courts."
SUPER CAPTION: Vuk Draskovic, opposition leader
But with Milosovic increasingly under pressure, it may not be long before police are ordered to quell the protests.
In an ominous sign of what could happen, witnesses said busloads of police - apparently arriving from other parts of Serbia - were being deployed in Belgrade suburbs.
Milosevic has used tough measure to quell previous unrest against his rule.
He used tanks to smash demonstrations in 1991 and riot police were deployed quickly in the past to counter any whiff of trouble.
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