Court Lets Milosevic Claim Another Victory Disputed Election Results Bring More Belgrade Demonstrations

President Slobodan Milosevic’s Socialists claimed victory in another Serbian town Tuesday, using the courts to grab what they lost at the polls.

The opposition insists that Milosevic accept its Nov. 17 municipal election triumphs in Belgrade and 13 other key cities and has vowed to continue protests until he gives in.

But, in its second ruling favoring the Socialists in as many days, Serbia’s Supreme Court said Tuesday that Milosevic’s Socialists won Smederevska Palanka, about 50 miles southeast of Belgrade, the capital.

The ruling lessened chances that Milosevic would give up Belgrade or any other town beyond the five his party already has conceded.

On Monday, the Supreme Court, believed to be controlled by the government, ruled in favor of the Socialists in the town of Sabac.

With such legal maneuvering expected to draw out the crisis for weeks, Milosevic is clearly hoping to wear down both domestic and foreign resistance to his claims.

Protests continued Tuesday, with taxi drivers joining in for the first time. More than 100 horn-honking cabbies drove through Belgrade. They were greeted by protesting students preparing to spend their third night in the streets in a bid to outlast riot police preventing them from marching.

Ending weeks of relative restraint, police waded into crowds Monday evening, swinging batons and beating demonstrators in at least three Belgrade neighborhoods.

France protested the brutality. “We strongly deplore the violence that was committed last night,” said a French Foreign Ministry statement.