Milosevic Supporters Protest Extradition to War Crimes Court

Chanting “Treason!” and “Let’s rise up!” about 15,000 supporters of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic rallied Monday to protest his extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The rally, held in front of the federal parliament by supporters of Milosevic’s Socialist Party of Serbia and the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, was the biggest of three pro-Milosevic protests organized since his extradition Thursday.

“Our ancestors are ashamed of you, you’ll all go to hell,” said one of the banners directed at the Serbian government. The protesters demanded new elections and chanted, “Slobo, we’ll get you back!”

Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian prime minister behind the sudden extradition, has said that all other war crimes suspects living in Yugoslavia--believed to number about a dozen--will soon join Milosevic in the Netherlands.

Yugoslavia consists of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro. But because Serbia is much larger than Montenegro, it effectively determines Yugoslav policies, despite the existence of a separate, federal Yugoslav government.

Serbian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say their republic is ready to provide evidence on demand from the U.N. tribunal.

But such cooperation would have to be low-key. A federal decree on working with the war crimes court was ruled unconstitutional by a high court, and Milosevic’s hand-over was made possible by a one-time Serbian government order that does not address the broader issue of cooperation with the tribunal.

The Yugoslav Left party, led by Milosevic’s wife, Mirjana Markovic, denounced his extradition.

“Because of the kidnapping by the Serbian government, the government ministers and those who gave orders will one day certainly face the judgment of a real court--the one of the people and history,” her party said in a statement.

Amid the protests, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica began searching Monday for a new government to replace the coalition that collapsed over the transfer of Milosevic to the tribunal.

Aiming to get a new government in place quickly, Kostunica began his consultations by meeting representatives of Serbia’s ruling reformist alliance.

The alliance’s junior partner in the federal government, the Socialist People’s Party of Montenegro, triggered the coalition’s collapse Friday when it quit in protest at the decision to hand Milosevic over to the court.

Kostunica has criticized the decision by his fellow reformers to approve the transfer, exposing tensions within the alliance, which united to oust Milosevic last year. But he has also called for “cool heads” in the midst of the upheaval.

Kostunica said a key task of the new government would be to redefine relations between Serbia and Montenegro.

Kostunica offered no clue as to whom he might choose to form a new government after the resignation of federal Prime Minister Zoran Zizic, except to say that his replacement would also be a Montenegrin.

Milosevic was handed over to the tribunal to face war crimes charges for atrocities committed by Serbian troops in Kosovo during the 1998-99 conflict in the Serbian province.