Opposition Mayor of Yugoslav Capital Ousted

Zoran Djindjic, the first non-Communist mayor of Yugoslavia’s capital since World War II and a prominent opposition leader, was ousted Tuesday in an apparently fatal blow to the fledgling pro-democracy movement in his country.

Djindjic immediately branded his removal from the Belgrade post an illegal coup. An unsavory alliance of nationalist extremists, Socialists loyal to President Slobodan Milosevic, and some of Djindjic’s former allies joined to sack the mayor after he had spent less than eight months in office.

They also fired the editorial management of Belgrade’s only opposition television station, a move that outraged students and foes of Yugoslavia’s repressive regime. In protest, thousands of demonstrators filled a downtown Belgrade square late Tuesday, in a replay of the pro-democracy marches last winter that swept Djindjic to power. Chanting “Treason,” they rallied against what leaders called “dirty deals,” and clashed with riot police. Several were injured and arrested, witnesses said.

Djindjic’s ouster was the final step in the collapse of the most serious opposition ever to Milosevic, the former Communist widely blamed for the bloody wars that racked Bosnia-Herzegovina and the rest of the former Yugoslav federation throughout most of this decade.

“What we fought for last winter was thrown away,” Djindjic told reporters in Belgrade. “Six months of democratic authority in Belgrade is over. A period of turbulence, crisis and uncertainty lies ahead of us.”

Observers saw Milosevic’s hand behind Tuesday’s political intrigue. It came at a time of general political disarray: A presidential election runoff is scheduled for Sunday after a surprisingly strong showing in parliamentary races by the ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj, a former paramilitary leader who advocates ethnic purity.

Djindjic became mayor of Belgrade only after three months of relentless demonstrations by tens of thousands of people forced Milosevic to respect opposition electoral victories he had tried to annul. Though Djindjic has supported nationalist causes in the past, he nevertheless represented the first real alternative to Milosevic’s ironclad hold on power.

But within weeks of his arrival at City Hall, Djindjic began to have serious disagreements with his ally in the opposition demonstrations, the charismatic but erratic politician Vuk Draskovic.

Draskovic insisted on running in last week’s presidential election in Serbia--the dominant republic within Yugoslavia--while Djindjic urged voters to boycott the vote because of what he saw as a lack of sufficient political freedoms.

Draskovic is said to blame Djindjic now for his third-place showing in that election. He took revenge Tuesday by joining the followers of Milosevic and radical nationalist Seselj in throwing Djindjic out of the mayoral office.

The opposition coalition that had been formed by Djindjic, Draskovic and Civic Alliance leader Vesna Pesic over the past winter created enormous expectations among the apathetic Serbian people. And it attracted considerable support, or at least interest, from U.S. and European capitals.

But with Djindjic’s removal, the movement appears to be all but dead. Most of Djindjic’s backers were absent from Tuesday’s hurriedly convened session of the City Council, which voted to remove him.

The council then ousted the senior editors of Studio B television, a station owned by the city of Belgrade that has served as the only real opposition to Milosevic’s state television. Most Yugoslavs get their news and information from television.

“For 90 days, the citizens of Belgrade were fighting for the power they won by voting,” said a statement from the Civic Alliance. “Today [the City Council] in an illegal way annulled that. . . . A dark police regime today hijacked Studio B.”

Lila Radonjic, the ousted editor of Studio B, said she felt Belgrade returning to the dark and repressive days of 1993, when the opposition could rarely speak out without fear of physical abuse.

“Studio B is being returned to the Socialists,” she said. “It was the only product of the will of the citizens.”

Throughout the day, Studio B broadcast political commentators and citizens protesting the maneuvering that was going on at City Hall. And it broadcast regular calls to join Tuesday night’s demonstrators. But as soon as new editors took over, they ordered all broadcasting to be limited to music and music videos.

Times special correspondent Zoran Cirjakovic in Belgrade contributed to this report.