> Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2000, Tuesday, Home Edition > > OFFICIAL FROM THE SERBIAN TOWN OF CACAK ORCHESTRATED A MASS POLICE > DEFECTION THAT ALLOWED FOR THE STORMING OF PARLIAMENT. > > RICHARD BOUDREAUX, TIMES STAFF WRITER > > CACAK, Yugoslavia > > Policemen used to take Velimir Ilic aside after his rants against the > dictatorship at rallies in this Serbian town. But instead of the warning he > expected, they whispered him secret encouragement to keep up the good work. > > At first, the mayor was suspicious. But over the past several months, he > quietly used those friendly contacts to hatch a conspiracy--one that > explains why the regime's ultimate defense crumbled so swiftly last week, > allowing protesters to swarm the federal parliament building and state > television station in Belgrade, the capital of both Yugoslavia and Serbia, > the country's main republic. > > The bloodless uprising that swept Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic > from power Thursday had scores of heroes, from the politicians who > challenged him in elections to the students, intellectuals and workers who > spread clever propaganda or shut down coal mines. > > But the mayor of Cacak did what no one had managed to do during Milosevic's > 13 years of Communist-style rule: bridge the opposition movement and a > feared, combat-hardened police force whose ranks were growing steadily more > uneasy with their role as political enforcers. > > In an interview Monday, the 49-year-old Ilic recounted how two officers > from elite police units in Belgrade and two police communications officers > from Cacak helped him arrange a mass defection of the police as a crowd led > by him and six off-duty Cacak policemen stormed the parliament building. > > "It was going to be victory or death," he said. "We had promises that > police at the parliament would resist up to a point--we didn't know exactly > when--and then resist no more." > > After about five hours of tumultuous uncertainty, that is exactly what > happened. > > The humiliated leader of the 150,000-strong force, Vlajko Stojiljkovic, > resigned Monday as Serbia's interior minister. That opened a chance for > allies of Vojislav Kostunica, the democrat who outpolled Milosevic in last > month's presidential elections and assumed office Saturday, to take control > of the police. > > Policemen from Cacak who confirmed Ilic's account of the defections said > they expect the changes to restore dignity and higher pay to a force > sullied by four distant wars in the Balkans and periodic repression of > Serbian dissidents at home. > > "In the final days, our job had been reduced to guarding the headquarters > of Milosevic's party and chasing student demonstrators," said Dejan > Gavrilovic, a 24-year-old police sergeant who abandoned his post here to > join in the storming of Belgrade. "Everyone here supported the opposition. > I just couldn't stand facing the people I know." > > Policemen knew Milosevic was tolerating massive corruption, "and a Serb can > forgive anything but theft," said Ivan Lazaravic, 25, who recently quit the > force. > > Gavrilovic and Lazaravic, Kosovo war veterans, said such sentiment spread > through police barracks across Serbia as policemen's wages plunged with the > war-battered economy, to about $ 40 a month. > > But Cacak, 90 miles south of Belgrade, was the most likely cradle of the > revolt because of its unruly history over the centuries and its fierce > opposition to Milosevic. Ilic's democratic forces shut out pro-Milosevic > parties 70 to 0 in last month's races for seats in the town assembly. > > During the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's air war against Yugoslavia > last year, Ilic hid for 43 days in the woods to escape arrest for > complaining that the Yugoslav army had brought antiaircraft guns into the > center of Cacak, endangering its 71,000 residents. > > After the war, townspeople beat back several police attempts to shut down > their independent TV station. > > Ilic, a man with broad shoulders and restless energy, quit the opposition > Serbian Renewal Party last year because its national leader, Vuk Draskovic, > resisted the mayor's confrontational style. > > "Draskovic was content to talk and talk and march and march" against > Milosevic, said Dragan Kovacevic, the regional leader of Ilic's New Serbia > Party. "He was dissipating the people's energy. We wanted concrete action." > > Without telling other opposition leaders, the mayor turned to his friends > in the police--convinced, Kovacevic said, that to win the battle of the > streets "we needed professionals, not amateurs." > > Last month, as the plotting thickened, Ilic said, he got an invitation from > a Belgrade police contact to sleep at his house for his own safety. > > "I thought it was a trap," he said, "But it was too late to turn back. I > wanted to play the game to the end." > > The muscular group that Ilic assembled to lead his assault included martial > arts practitioners, professional boxers and 10 Cacak reservists of a > Yugoslav army parachute regiment, along with the six off-duty cops he > called "my boys." > > They set out with about 10,000 townspeople at 7:30 a.m. Thursday in a > 12-mile-long caravan that was to converge on Belgrade with opposition > forces from other towns protesting Milosevic's refusal to accept electoral > defeat. > > The off-duty cops used their walkie-talkies to monitor police orders to > halt the group's advance. The caravan, which included a bulldozer and three > truckloads of stones for ammunition, overwhelmed two police barricades on > the road to Belgrade with only token resistance. > > Those walkie-talkies aroused suspicion that the men carrying them were > police infiltrators. Ilic said he had to stop a boxer from beating up one > of his plainclothes cops. > > Arriving in central Belgrade at 10:30 a.m., the tough men from Cacak led a > charge on the parliament building and the TV station, energizing a crowd of > more than 100,000 that had been waiting to hear Kostunica speak. > > "We wanted to inject the protest with a more active spirit, so people would > realize that the time of speeches and marches was over and something really > big was about to happen," Ilic said, showing reporters a videotaped replay > of the battle for the parliament building. > > The footage pictured police outside parliament firing tear gas at the > demonstrators and beating them with clubs. The demonstrators repeatedly > surged forward, only to be beaten away again. > > Ilic said an elaborate game between the two sides was underway--face to > face and over walkie-talkies. > > The policemen from Cacak flashed their badges and urged policemen on the > other side to join them. > > Over the radios, Ilic said, his Belgrade police contacts kept telling him > to keep up the attacks and eventually the parliament's defenders would > dwindle, get tired and give up. > > "They said: 'Just hang in there another minute. There are individual > officers who don't want to give up and others who are wavering. You have to > launch another attack. Attack harder.' " > > At one point, he recalled, someone from Cacak threw a bottle into a crowd > of pro-Milosevic policemen who were about to defect, driving them back onto > the side of the parliament defenders. Later, the Cacak crowd broke into a > nearby police station and began seizing weapons. The parliament's defenders > began shooting into the air. > > "It was extremely risky, because the guarantees from our contacts on the > other side were not absolute," Ilic said. "We never knew whether the > arrangement to surrender would be carried out or defied. > > "If they didn't surrender, we thought they would kill us." > > By 3:30 p.m., it was over. Police loyal to Milosevic melted away from > parliament and eventually from central Belgrade. Smoke began pouring from > parliament and the TV station, and the tough guys from Cacak collected 50 > police helmets and shields as souvenirs. Milosevic conceded defeat the next > evening. > > The mayor returned to Cacak a hero, cheered by crowds in the street and > telling them he expects better things from the new government. > > "I'm an ordinary citizen of Serbia," he said. "All this was caused not by > me but by Slobodan Milosevic. An ordinary citizen of Serbia had had enough > of hearing and seeing Slobodan Milosevic." > > But if the new government doesn't do any better, he warned with a smile, > "we'll be back in Belgrade within 60 days." > >
