Serbian Vets Feel Forgotten

Protesting that they have gone from being heroes to being ignored, hundreds of wounded Serbian war veterans blocked traffic Thursday in downtown Belgrade.

The protesters, wounded during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, are demanding veterans’ pensions from President Slobodan Milosevic, but he claims Serbia was never at war.

About 200 veterans, mostly in wheelchairs or carrying crutches, sat on the pavement in front of the Parliament, triggering traffic jams in the heart of the capital. Hundreds of Belgraders joined in support.

“When Milosevic fought wars for ‘Greater Serbia,’ we were the heroes,” said one of the veterans, Aleksandar Dragicevic. “Now, when his crazy dream is shattered, we are nothing.”

Milosevic is widely blamed for instigating the wars in Croatia in 1991 and Bosnia in 1992-95. But he maintains that he never sent Serbian troops to fight in the two countries that once were part of Yugoslavia.

Trying to avoid blame and possible war crimes charges, he has claimed he had nothing to do with the ethnic Serb rebellions in the region.