Serbia Protesters Vow to Press On
Fired up by President Slobodan Milosevic’s acknowledgment of electoral defeat in Serbia’s second-largest city, protesters vowed Thursday to keep up their demonstrations until he admits defeat in all towns won by the opposition in November elections.
About 80,000 people turned out for protests in Belgrade, the Serbian and Yugoslav capital, a day after the regime said Milosevic’s Socialist Party lost municipal elections in Nis. About 12,000 people also turned out for protests in Nis.
Milosevic clearly hoped to placate his opponents by giving up Nis, along with three smaller towns earlier. Instead, people at both rallies demanded that the regime concede all 14 cities won by the opposition in Nov. 17 local elections.
The independent Belgrade newspaper Dnevni Telegraf reported Thursday that Milosevic planned to concede other electoral losses.
In Vienna, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe welcomed the decision to recognize the election results in Nis as “a step in the right direction,” but called on Milosevic to recognize opposition victories in the other cities.
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