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Serb government concedes 9 elections to opposition

But protesters far from satisfied

January 3, 1997
Web posted at: 7:30 p.m. EST (2430 GMT)

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Protests, now in their seventh week, may finally be having some effect on the Serbian government headed by President Slobodan Milosevic.

Serbian Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic sent a letter to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Friday, admitting that opposition parties won nine municipal elections in parts of Belgrade.

However, the admission failed to satisfy the OSCE, which has conducted its own investigation of the November voting results, and is now calling for the "prompt and complete implementation" of election outcomes for 14 municipal seats won by the opposition.

U.S.: letter not enough

The U.S. State Department also criticized Milutinovic's letter. Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the letter did not go "nearly far enough in acknowledging the obligations of the Serbian government to make sure that it respects the voice of the people."

And, the government's admission failed to mollify opposition demonstrators, who were on the street again Friday, braving icy weather and a cordon of riot police.

Zoran Djindjic, one of the Zajedno (Together) opposition leaders, said Milutinovic's letter "will make the demonstrators even more angry. It shows that the regime has lost its compass." A Zajedno statement read, "It has become very clear that Milosevic has opted for a conflict with the whole world in an effort to stay in power."

Another opposition leader, Vuk Draskovic, told 30,000 protesters that Milutinovic's letter was "full of lies and tricks."

"With (Milutinovic's) letter, Milosevic fully rejected the OSCE findings," Draskovic said. "He said we won in nine Belgrade districts, but did not say a word about the city council where we won a two-thirds majority."

Although tens of thousands of people have participated in the protests, most people in Serbia never see them. State-run television downplays the rallies -- when it covers them at all.

Belgrade 'noisemakers' protest censorship

Hear the sounds of protest.
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To drown out the pro-government slant of state-run television, Belgrade residents have started making noise at 7:30 p.m., when the evening news broadcast begins. (1.7M/46 sec. QuickTime movie) movie icon

icon (635k/49 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

At 7:30 sharp, Milutin Petrovic heads for the trash cans of his apartment building, where he bangs on the cans with a mallet while tooting a harmonica. "Sometimes I feel as little as a character in some silly movie, doing this, but it isn't funny at all," he said.

petrovic

At the same time, his wife Snezana makes a racket with pots and pans. "We are trying to wake up the people from the true reality they are living in, which is created by the government media. So we are trying to wake them up -- time to show that this is not the real life they are looking at," she said.

Belgrade's main square becomes, for a short period every evening, an outdoor dance hall with the best security in the world and the worst music as whistles, cooking utensils, plates and cans are turned into instruments in a fight against censorship.

Correspondent Steve Harrigan and Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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