Demonstrators call for the resignation of President Slobodan Milosevic at rally in Uzice, Yugoslavia  RELATED VIDEO: CNN's Alessio Vinci reports demonstrators hope the protests will continue until Milosevic steps down Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Russian peacekeepers arrive in Kosovo  MESSAGE BOARD: Rebuilding Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

July 7, 1999
Web posted at: 10:30 a.m. EDT (1951 GMT)

In this story: Call for civil disobedience Conflict brewing in the streets? RELATED STORIES, SITES

NIS, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- A groundswell of discontent continued to gather momentum Wednesday in Yugoslavia, where the opposition defied police to call for the resignation of President Slobodan Milosevic.

A petition campaign calling for Milosevic's to step down will continue despite a police ban, said Zoran Zivkovic, mayor of the southeastern city of Nis and a member of the opposition Democratic Party.

Anti-government activists have set up 10 stations throughout the city, which is plastered with anti-Milosevic posters and banners. While organizers say police have visited each station at least three times, law enforcement officials have made no move to stop the campaign.

But in other cities across Serbia, police have detained activists gathering signatures and forcibly stopped them from proceeding with their plans, saying such activities can be carried out only within opposition party headquarters.

The petition-gathering goes hand-in-hand with a spate of rallies picking up steam across the country.

"We want all of you every day, every hour, in every town ... to get together asking for one thing -- for Milosevic to leave," Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic told crowd of 10,000 gathered Tuesday in the square in Uzice, some 250 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Belgrade.

Call for civil disobedience

Djindjic's party is part of the Alliance for Change, an umbrella group for several anti-Milosevic parties that has launched a series of rallies across Yugoslavia. Djindjic himself called for a general strike to force Milosevic to step down.

"We see the next two or three months in the following way: the people go onto the streets, the church calls the people to go onto the streets ... Serbia as a whole is in a state of civil disobedience in a general strike. He goes," Djindjic said at the Uzice protest.

Local police in Uzice tried to persuade people not to attend the rally, with little success.

"We are not afraid of the police, even if they try to stop us," said one man. "They are not dangerous anymore, because they are tired of the war."

Uzice authorities did delay the rally briefly by cutting electrical power to the square, but a portable generator kept the microphones working.

Opposition leaders called Milosevic the worst leader in Serbia's history, blaming him for plunging the country into a deep economic crisis with policies that led to NATO's 11-week bombing campaign.

The bombing ended June 12 when Milosevic agreed to allow a NATO peacekeeping force to ensure the safe return of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian refugees. The Albanians fled the Serb province to escape what NATO called Yugoslavia's systematic campaign to rid the area of Albanians.

Conflict brewing in the streets?

Even without a protest call from the organized opposition, Yugoslav citizens are taking to the streets: In Leskovac, 200 kilometers southeast of Uzice, a few hundred demonstrators briefly clashed with policemen trying to break up a spontaneous demonstration calling for the release of a jailed television technician.

A separate protest in Leskovac turned violent Tuesday when demonstrators and police clashed outside a police station

The technician, Ivan Novkovic, became an instant celebrity when he interrupted programming last weekend and called on people to rally against a local governor loyal to Milosevic. His calls drew some 20,000 people to the streets Monday.

Novkovic was arrested and sentenced to 30 days in jail on Tuesday.

The protesters confronted police outside the station where Novkovic was being held, chanting "You betrayed Serbia," "Killers! Killers!" and "We want Ivan."

More protests are planned: Students at Nis University were launching a campaign called "Arrest me," believe that "only a spark is needed to provoke protests in our city," student leader Aleksandar Visnjic said.

Opposition leaders have also planned another rally Thursday in the southern town Prokuplje, near Kosovo's provincial boundary. Milosevic's Socialist Party has called for a demonstration of its own at the same place and time, sparking concerns about a possible conflict.

So far, Milosevic has shown no sign of giving up power. But opposition leaders hope to build on Serb anger and eventually take the demonstrations to the streets of Belgrade, under the embattled president's nose.

Correspondent Alessio Vinci and Reuters contributed to this report.

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