Syndicate: [Fwd: [Fwd: Serbian mothers revolt against killings (http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/]]

[Zarana Papic <zpapic@f.bg.ac.yu>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Fwd: Serbian mothers revolt against killings
(http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/]
Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 04:55:39 +0200
From: Zarana Papic <zpapic@EUnet.yu>
To: Zarana PAPIC <zpapic@f.bg.ac.yu>



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Serbian mothers revolt against killings
(http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 09:03:18 +0200
From: "helleborus niger" <vukica@sezampro.yu>
Reply-To: "helleborus niger" <vukica@sezampro.yu>
To: "vwy" <vukica@sezampro.yu>

/ima i mala mapa uz tekst/


http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/05/19/timkoskos02006.html?3394235 

Serbian mothers revolt against killings 

FROM EVE-ANN PRENTICE IN BELGRADE

SERBIAN anger at President Milosevic has turned into open revolt, with
stone-throwing protesters demanding an end to the war in Kosovo,
according to reports reaching Belgrade yesterday. 
More than 4,000 people - mainly women and children - were said to have
hurled stones at the mayors of two towns in southern Serbia believed to
be hard hit by war casualties. 

In Krusevac, more than 3,000 people demanded an end to the Kosovo
fighting and called for the return of men sent from the town to fight,
according to a spokesman for the opposition Democratic Party. 

In an indication that the death toll among Yugoslav troops has been
higher than suspected, many mothers reportedly carried photographs of
sons killed in action. Throughout the three-hour revolt in Krusevac on
Monday, the protesters chanted: "We want sons, not coffins." 

In the nearby small town of Alexandrovac, 1,000 people were said to have
gathered at the bus station and tried to stop troops on leave from
returning to the front. The mayors of both towns, who are also officials
of the ruling Socialist Party, were apparently mobbed. 

Simmering anger is said to have spilt over into violence after the
bodies of seven conscripts killed in Kosovo were returned to Krusevac
and three to Alexandrovac last Friday, along with a large number of
wounded. Both towns have suffered heavy Nato bomb damage. 

Miloje Mihajlovic, the Mayor of Krusevac, was jeered and stoned when he
tried to calm the crowd, the independent VIP news agency reported. A
cordon of 50 police had to protect him. 

When Zivota Cvetkovic, his counterpart in Alexandrovac, tried to address
the crowd there, protesters beat up his bodyguard, the Democratic Party
said, quoting witnesses. 

The protests continued yesterday - with some people being arrested in
Krusevac - and more demonstrations are expected today. The editor of one
Serbian journal said: "These acts are so brave; so sincere. They are an
act of desperation. The protests are spontaneous, no political
organisation has organised them." 

The reports are bound to cause deep dismay to the Milosevic regime,
which has been careful to try to keep bad war news away from Belgrade.
The vast majority of those called up to fight seem so far to have come
from towns and cities away from the capital. 

Indications are emerging that a growing number of young men are moving
to Belgrade in the belief that they have a greater chance of escaping
conscription by melting into the capital's crowds.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Belgrade claimed last night that
President Milosevic was ready to "cut a deal", provided the settlement
guaranteed Yugoslavia's territorial integrity. Nebojsa Vujovic did not
say whether Belgrade would accept an international force to police a
deal, but he described the demands put forward by G8 foreign ministers
as "an element of a peace plan and we are open to that, in spite of some
reservations". 

Next page: Bonn cripples Cook plan for ground troops


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