Serbia Opposition Vows ‘No Compromise’

Counting on the courts to restore their election victory in Belgrade, opposition leaders vowed Friday to keep up the pressure on Slobodan Milosevic until the Serbian president relents or quits.

The Serbian Supreme Court was considering an appeal Friday that was aimed at defusing the opposition’s largest and most determined protests against Milosevic since he took over in Serbia in 1987.

A decision was expected soon, perhaps today, on a legal appeal that could hand control of the Serbian and Yugoslav capital to the opposition. It would be the opposition’s first major victory over Milosevic, and the first time since the end of World War II that the capital has not been ruled by Communists or their successors.

About 100,000 people marched in Belgrade on Friday, the latest of almost three weeks of daily protests since opposition victories in local elections were annulled by Milosevic-controlled courts.

Mirko Mihajlovic, a lawyer for the opposition Democratic Party, said he expects the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the opposition.

But winning Belgrade is not enough, said Zoran Djindjic of the Democratic Party. The opposition wants its Nov. 17 victories reinstated in Serbia’s three major cities.

“There will be no compromise. Nis, Belgrade and Kraljevo are a package, and we will not give up until everything is given back to us,” Djindjic said.

There were more signs of dissatisfaction with Milosevic, and the elections, on Friday.

Serbian Information Minister Aleksandar Tijanic quit after being heavily criticized for shutting down two independent radio stations. Tijanic said he disagreed with “decisions being made without consulting me.”

The United States on Friday kept the pressure on Serbia. Belgrade has moved toward the opposition in recent days, but “the United States believes that the Serbian government should now go a further step . . . [and] initiate an open dialogue with the opposition in Serbia,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.

Serbia’s small co-republic in the rump Yugoslavia, Montenegro, distanced itself from Milosevic, saying in a statement Friday that “the annulment of democratic elections belongs to the practice of totalitarian regimes.”