Riot Police Gas, Club Protesters Street Theater Ends In Belgrade; Opposition Vows To Fight Back

Hundreds of riot police beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons Sunday in the biggest show of force in 75 days of anti-government protests in the capital.

At least 50 protesters were injured, independent media reported.

“Tonight, a crime was committed against the people of Belgrade,” opposition leader Vuk Draskovic said. “We won’t stop until those who gave orders for this crime resign.”

He urged people to come out again today, and to “bring everything they need for their defense.”

“There is no more Gandhi-style resistance.”

Some protesters responded to the police assault by throwing stones, and at least two policemen were among the injured. Dozens of protesters were arrested, radio reports said early today.

The police assault indicated that President Slobodan Milosevic could be moving to crush the protests that have shaken his government for 2-1/2 months.

Past midnight, police were still beating protesters at the central Republic Square. An Associated Press reporter was clubbed on the back, and cameramen for Associated Press Television, Reuters Television and CNN also were beaten.

Riot police badly beat Vesna Pesic, one of the leaders of the prodemocracy movement, opposition leader Zoran Djindjic said early today.

Djindjic, head of the Democratic Party, also told The Associated Press that police had pushed him. He was not harmed.

Draskovic, the third leader of the Zajedno opposition alliance, said he was chased by police and shots were fired at his car as he fled, according to the independent radio station B-92. He said he was hiding because he feared he either would be killed or arrested.

The police action came after a tense four-hour standoff Sunday morning on a Belgrade bridge, which began when riot police prevented Draskovic from leading thousands of his supporters to the daily prodemocracy rally.

“Come out, citizens of Belgrade,” Draskovic said live on independent station Radio Index, on the 75th straight day of protests in bitter cold weather. The demonstrators are demanding that the government honor opposition victories in Nov. 17 municipal elections.

Milosevic’s government refused to acknowledge the opposition victories in Belgrade and 13 other major cities, even though they were confirmed by international observers.

Other opposition leaders, who joined supporters in different districts of Belgrade, also marched toward the bridge. As Belgrade citizens converged on the bridge, opposition leaders said their supporters would continue facing the police until they were allowed free movement.

Radio Index said police reinforcements were grouping in adjacent streets. Hundreds of riot police first used their shields, then brought in two water cannons.

Meanwhile, editors of two independent newspapers were interrogated by police in what could be another crackdown on independent media in Serbia.

Police took Petar Lazic, chief editor of the satirical weekly Krmaca, from his home Saturday and questioned him for two hours.

Lazic was questioned about a satirical photomontage that compared Milosevic to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Police said Lazic could face slander charges.

Plainclothes policemen also questioned staff of the independent daily Demokratija in the newspaper’s office, journalists there said.

The district attorney is investigating whether the paper acted illegally by publishing an advertisement that urged readers to flood government institutions with telephone calls and block their lines.

Milosevic previously shut down Radio Index and Radio B-92, another station that carries reports of the protests, but bowed to pressure and allowed them to continue.