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Serbian Movement of Renewal President, Vuk Draskovic, said the police arrested his whole security personnel after the plane from Moscow landed at Belgrade airport. He told Beta agency that his bodyguards were captured while they were waiting to escort him from the airport.

"It is obvious the bodyguards are in the way, since they are trying to eliminate me. We live n a country where people armed with machine guns storm into a City Hall session and the police does not intervene although they recive a call from the Mayor", said Draskovic. He expressed his bekeif that the arrests were a direct consequence of his visit to Moscow.

"The SPO leader demanded an urgent release of his security, saying that, to his knowledge, they were carying guns with valid permits. "I want the lads to be released and if anyone wants to get me, they know my address", said Draskovic.

Leading opposition parties and coalitions will hold another meeting on Friday, June 2, on the premises of the Democratic Centre (DC) in Belgrade. The meeting is to be organised by the Vojvodina coalition and the opposition leaders are to discuss further course of action and opposition strategy.

Future political agenda and opposition strategy for the elections will be discussed at the meeting as well as some current affairs issues like possible reception of some organisations eager to join the united opposition bloc, Dragan Veselinov, Vojvodina coalition leader, told Beta news agency.

A popularity poll conducted by Scan agency on the territory of Novi Sad municipality showed that the united opposition is favoured most by citizens. 22.4% of polled citizens said they would vote for the coalition between the Alliance for Change, the Serbian Movement for Renewal and the opposition parties in Vojvodina, 19,3% would vote for the reigning coalition between the Socialist Party of Serbia, Serbian Radical Party and the Yugoslav Left. The largest number are still people who do not wish to vote or say their opinion - 45%.

On the other hand, SPS leads the popularity poll when individual parties are observed. They have 15,2%, which is 3.5% lower than last year. The Radicals are second with 6.6%, with a 7% drop compared to last year. The Alliance for Change is third with 6.5%. The League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina is next with 4.9%, gaining 2% in the past year. The Serbian Movement for Renewal has 4.1% with a drop in popularity of 3%. The Yugoslav Left is last among the larger parties with 0.7%, which is 0.2% more than last year.

The investigating judge of the Pozarevac District Court Milan Bojic heard yesterday witnesses to an incident on May 2 in which Otpor activists Momcilo Veljkovic and Radojko Lukovic and lawyer Nebojsa Sokolovic had been severely beaten by security guards of the Madona discotheque owned by Marko Milosevic, the son of the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. They had been subsequently detained on charges of attempted murder.

Veljkovic and Lukovic did not testify in court since they had already given statement to judge Bosko Popovic. This case had been assigned to judge Milan Bojic after the suspension of the investigating judge Bosko Popovic who had previously ordered that the detainees be released after having ruled that there had been no legal grounds for charges of attempted murder brought by the local police. The hearing is to resume today at 8 a.m.

Nine Otpor activists, three of them underage, and an elderly woman were arrested in Kragujevac last night during Otpor's campaign to collect signatures for registration.

The arrested were released after their files were opened at the police department. A number of citizens gathered in front of the police station to protest against the latest display of brutality.

One of the two Otpor activists detained earlier yesterday by the local police in the eastern Serbian town of Zajecar was released late last night, while the other is still being held in custody, the representatives of the local Otpor branch told Beta. According to available information so far, Vladan Stankovic, still in local police detention, will be most probably heard by an investigating judge, while the other activist was released under the condition of reporting today to the police at the local police station.

These two Otpor activists were detained on charges of having written anti-government graffiti on the walls of apartment buildings in Kotlujevac, a Zajecar suburb, which they subsequently confessed to. The detained Otpor activists were escorted by the police officers to the site of police investigation where a spray they had used for graffiti was found.

Stankovic's mother, seeking information about her son, has been thrown out today from the premises of the Zajecar police station. A few hours earlier, as stated by the Zajecar branch of Otpor people's movement, Otpor activists, having arrived to the police station for the same reason, have also been thrown out.

Dragoljub Pavic from Varvarin, a town in central Serbia, told Beta yesterday that the local police had detained his underaged son and that the boy had been subsequently released after 'an informative talk' with the local police chief.

According to Pavic, his son was taken into custody because he had chanted at the gathering marking an anniversary of the bombing of the bridge in Varvarin: "Red mobsters! Have you no shame?! You're to blame for everything".

Montenegrin President and head of the Democratic Party of Socialists, Milo Djukanovic, refused to accept the challenge by Predrag Bulatovic, high-ranking official of the National Socialist Party, to a political debate and said this person had to fulfil several conditions first.

"Since I was into basketball when I was younger, I would love to play NBA star Michael Jordan, but the problem is he would refuse to play with me", said Djukanovic at a campaign gathering of the coalition "For Better Life" held in Podgorica last night.

Bulatovic challenged Djukanovic to a debate on several occasions asking to discuss all problems at local, republic and state level.

Djukanovic said that Bulatovic, as a representative of his own party, had to survive a duel with "For Better Life" coalition representative Miomir Mugos since they were both running for Mayor of Podgorica.

Djukanovic added that he would also have to debate with Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic and then with coalition his ally and leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj, and "finally tell him face to face the thoughts he has been sharing with Parliament representatives during recess - that Vojislav Seselj is a fascist".

Djukanovic concluded the list by saying that Bulatovic would be welcome to a political duel once he cleared all the "check-points", became the leader of his party and ran for presidency in Montenegro.<

Montenegrin President and the leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists, the ruling party in Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic said that he firmly believed in the local elections victory in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, and Herceg Novi, a seaside resort. Impending victory in the local elections will allow for Montenegro to say 'farewell' to Milosevic's policy in Montenegro, Djukanovic added. He also told the members of the public at the promotional gathering of the ruling Montenegrin party last night in Podgorica that the Socialist People's Party (SNP) and the Liberal Alliance (LS) will end up as the ultimate losers in the forthcoming political battle. The first round of local elections is scheduled for June 11.

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson has arrived in Pristina today and met Commander of the Kosovo Protection Corps, Agim Ceku and the representatives of the Interim Kosovo Council. After the meeting Robertson, together with KFOR Commander Juan Ortuno, walked through the central streets of the Kosovo capital. Later today NATO Secretary-General left for Kosovska Mitrovica from the local football stadium.

General Secretary of NATO, George Robertson, said UN Resolution 1244 on Kosovo has not been completely realised and the UN will try to implement the document in practice. It is too early for the return of the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police in Kosovo, said Robertson after meeting with local Serb and Albanian representatives in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Robertson talked to Serb representative Oliver Ivanovic and Albanian representative Bajram Redzepi in Kosovska Mitrovica. He stressed after the meeting that the town was the most important element for the future of Kosovo.

Ivanovic said they discussed the security of all citizens in Kosovo and the future of the province. "We are waiting to see how Resolution 1244 will be implemented after June, since there are certain doubts, especially from the Serb population", said Ivanovic. He added that Robertson's statement shed some light on the situation and said he did not expect drastic changes from June regarding the Resolution.

Bajram Redzepi also said the situation does not allow the return of the Yugoslav army and other security forces in Kosovo. He condemned the attack on a group of Serbs in the ethnically mixed village of Cernica near Gnjilane, in which three people were killed, among them a four-year-old child.

Vladimir Chizhov has been recently appointed as the Russian special envoy for the Balkans instead of the ambassador Boris Mayorski, Beta reported, quoting Russian diplomatic sources. New Russian special envoy will be representing Russia at the following Contact Group meeting in London next week to be held at the level of executive directors of foreign affairs ministries of the member countries. Chizhov is the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department for European Co-operation.

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