20,000 Attend Anti-Milosevic Demonstration

More than 20,000 opposition supporters, chanting “Rebellion!” and “Disobedience!” defied threats by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s government, massing Monday to demand free and fair elections and an end to his war on dissent.

There was no visible police presence at the rally at Belgrade’s main Republic Square despite earlier threats of mass arrests. A police helicopter flew briefly over the square during the rally, and the crowd booed and jeered.

Opposition leaders said Milosevic could plunge Serbia, Yugoslavia’s dominant republic, into violence.

“Milosevic has declared a civil war against his own people, crushed those small human rights Serbia now has,” Vladan Batic, an opposition leader, told the crowd. “Serbia is faced with a stark choice: free elections or civil war.”

Tensions in Serbia worsened ahead of the rally after government leaders accused the political opposition and anti-government student organizations of being behind the weekend killing of a top Socialist Party official. The information minister said Sunday that protesters could be arrested at the rally.

The main opposition leader, Vuk Draskovic, remained defiant, calling for a rebellion.

“We all must rebel against the killers, terrorists and violence that rule Serbia today. We have to rebel and rise against them,” Draskovic told the crowd.

“This is no longer politics. This is a choice between sickness and health,” said another opposition leader, Zoran Djindjic. “We will shake up Serbia. Let this year be the year of resistance until victory.”

The rally in Belgrade, the Serbian and Yugoslav capital, was scheduled after the government blocked an opposition demonstration planned for last week in Milosevic’s hometown of Pozarevac.

Monday’s rally protested continuing repression of anti-government activists.