Associated Press
Jue 28, 2001
MILOSEVIC SUPPORTERS RALLY
by Katerina Kratovac
Belgrade, Yugoslavia (AP) -- As their shock turned to
anger, thousands of Slobodan Milosevic's supporters
rallied outside the prison where he was jailed until
his extradition Thursday to the U.N. war crimes
tribunal.
Chanting ''Treason!'' at the thick stone walls of
Belgrade's Central Prison, Milosevic supporters
protested his sudden handover to the court in The
Hague, Netherlands.
The mob moved to Belgrade's main square, where it
swelled to 3,000 people. Several television cameramen
who ventured too close were beaten.
Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, who heads the
communist Yugoslav Left Party, sat in a car parked
outside the prison along with her daughter, Marija,
and a daughter-in-law. No one came out of the prison
to greet them.
The mood was gloomy at the headquarters of Milosevic's
Socialist Party. Zivadin Jovanovic, the party's acting
head, blasted the Serbian government and Prime
Minister Zoran Djindjic for agreeing to hand over
Milosevic, saying it amounted to a coup d'etat.
''What happened is that Djindjic suspended the
constitutional system of Yugoslavia,'' Jovanovic told
The Associated Press. ''Djindjic introduced
dictatorship, and the responsibility for that lies on
him and all others who did nothing to prevent this.''
At the rally, Socialist official Dusko Marasovic said
that ''our worst nightmares have come true. The masks
have fallen from the Serbian traitors, especially
Djindjic.''
The ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party described
Milosevic's extradition as ''one of the worst criminal
acts in Serbian history.''
''Djindjic and Kostunica are the greatest traitors of
the Serbian people,'' said Vojislav Seselj, leader of
the Radical Party.
''The Serbian people must not suffer treason and
humiliation. Patriotic parties demand the arrest of
all the violators of the Constitution... We will drive
Kostunica out of his rat hole.''
Members of the Radical Party joined the pro-Milosevic
protest in downtown Belgrade, chanting: ''Uprising!
Uprising!'' They also vented their anger at media
crews and passersby, beating several people.
Across the street from the rally, Belgrade's Media
Center offered shelter to reporters and media crews
attacked by Milosevic's supporters.
Radical Party member Aleksandar Vucic said the ''fight
ahead will be tough because we face a mighty opponent
-- criminals that do anything the Americans order them
to.''
''We must rise up to defend Serbia,'' Vucic said.
''We shall kill Djindjic,'' some of the Radicals
shouted back.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
