Belgrade - The Liberty Square - April 14

Rally of the United Opposition

From our reporters (speaking in Serbian :) at the Square: 1. [490kB - 3'58''] [download] [stream] 2. [228kB - 1'50''] [download] [stream] 3. [369kB - 2'59''] [download] [stream] 4. [251kB - 2'01''] [download] [stream] 5. [278kB - 2'15''] [download] [stream] 6. [308kB - 2'29''] [download] [stream]

FreeSerbia Jingle [337kB - 0'12''] [download] [stream] BRANKO'S BRIDGE Arrival of students from Novi Sad [466kB - 1'22''] [download] [stream] Spasoje Krunic [195kB - 0'36''] [download] [stream] Dragan Covic [180kB - 0'32''] [download] [stream] THE LIBERTY SQUARE Atmosphere 1 [287kB - 0'49''] [download] [stream] Atmosphere 2 [368kB - 1'07''] [download] [stream] Batic, Veselinov, Draskovic, Djindjic [556kB - 1'41''] [download] [stream] Isakov, Kasa, Korac, Kostunica, Ljajic, Micunovic, Mihajlovic, Obradovic, Pavlov, Perisic [624kB - 1'53''] [download] [stream] Protic, Trajkovic, Canak, Covic [552kB - 1'41''] [download] [stream]

Citizens before the rally Opposition representatives

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18:06 CET (GMT+2) - People have blocked Terazije street in their thousands heading towards Slavija Square in a spontaneous protest walk after the meeting had officially ended.

18:00 CET (GMT+2) - The police locked the entrance of the building in which the video broadcast and image processing was to be realised. Due to these circumstances, this material shall be presented on our web-site once we have access to our hardware again.

17:56 CET (GMT+2) - The announcer is currently reading the joint statement of the opposition in which they promise to remain united, that there will be no cooperation with the regime – Serbian Socialist Party, Yugoslav Unified Left and Serbian Radical Party, and that there will be no internal clashes. The opposition demands that all forms of terror cease and for the electoral conditions to be established. Thus ends today’s rally. There will be no organized walk. The leaders sent collective greetings from the stand.

17:53 CET (GMT+2) - The next speaker is the president of the Democratic Alternatice, Nebojsa Covic. He said that the opposition cannot make it without the people.

17:49 CET (GMT+2) - Canak said that he would pull the trash out of its bunker and hang it right here (the square).

17:48 CET (GMT+2) - Canak’s initiated ovations from the crowd when he said that Milosevic is trash. He excused himself for cursing, adding that he had to, because trash cannot understand any other language.

17:45 CET (GMT+2) - Nenad Canak, president of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, is behind the microphone. He said that the assistance of , what they call, separatists and traitors is necessary for the downfall of the regime, because when they all gather into one fist, there will be no Slobodan Milosevic anymore. He pointed out the results of Milosevic’s rule: many casualties, destroyed roads and bridges,…

17:38 CET (GMT+2) - Trajkovic also says that the Serbs will remain in Kosovo, struggle for the preservation of multi-ethnic Kosovo and continue to co-operate with the International Community, because this government is unable to do this. He added that Serbia will not be able to take responsibility over Kosovo before it grows strong as a state.

17:32 CET (GMT+2) - Momcilo Trajkovic, president of the Executive Board of the Serb National Council in Kosovo, is on the stand after Protic. He said that Milosevic retreated the army and the police from Kosovo, while they stayed on to protect it. He condemned the International Community for allowing the escalation of violence.

17:31 CET (GMT+2) - Co-president of New Serbia, Milan St. Protic, said that the Serbian regime has to be removed if a new government is to be elected democratically.

17:31 CET (GMT+2) - Momcilo Perisic, president of the Movement for Democratic Serbia spoke and said that Serbia has to elect a president who will associate it with the World and added that the army and the police are with the people, while only a handful of corrupted generals support the regime.

17:30 CET (GMT+2) - Pavlov handed the Otpor flag to the opposition leaders and reminded them of their responsibility towards the people of Serbia and their future.

17:05 CET (GMT+2) - Pavlov said that in Serbia today there is a simple choice: It’s either Mira (Markovic) or us, either them or us.

17:06 CET (GMT+2) - Milan Pavlov, the representative of the Otpor movement has taken the stand. He announced that the thee hundred people walked from Novi Sad, 85 km away, organized by Otpor, and reminded of the student and civil protests in 1996/97.

17:01 CET (GMT+2) - Dusan Mihajlovic, president of New Democracy, reminded that the repression of the regime has culminated. He stressed that early elections are not a matter of politics any more, but a matter of survival.

16:53 CET (GMT+2) - Dragutin Rokvic, chairman of the Independent Association of Journalists in Serbia, is speaking. He warned about the horrific state the media are in, since they are fined and banned by the regime on a daily basis. He reminded that practically all independent media were fined after the notorious Public information law was brought, and that several were banned a few weeks ago.

16:50 CET (GMT+2) - Liberty Square is packed, and the atmosphere is great. There are many young people, though the accent is given by the many partisan flags. There is a minimum police presence.

16:44 CET (GMT+2) - Micunovic emphasized that the current government seized everything – companies, the army, the police. He added that the state was a common good, not private property.

16:43 CET (GMT+2) - ‘It has never happen that the government called itself patriotic and the people traitorous’ said Micunovic. It is obvious that the recent program on the Serbian National Television has kicked up a lot of t dust. Micunovic added that the government has distanced itself from the people and no longer has any contact with it. The government therefore doesn’t know what the people think and feel. ‘the government says there is no opposition – come out and see!’

16:40 CET (GMT+2) - Vuk Obradovic finished his speech with the words “long live Serbia”. The next speaker is president of the Democratic Centre, Dragoljub Micunovic

16:38 CET (GMT+2) - Vuk Obradovic, president of Socialdemocracy, is addressing the crowd. He stesses that Serbs are an ancient European people and that they cannot estrange themselves from Europe.

16:34 CET (GMT+2) - President of Sandzak Coalition, Rasim Ljajic, called for ethnic reconciliation and said that Serbs should stop dividing into patriots and traitors in their own ranks.

16:26 CET (GMT+2) - Jozef Kasza, President of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians and Mayor of Subotica, stressed in his address that Yugoslavia has to be transformed into a free, democratic and decentralised state.

16:26 CET (GMT+2) - The entire real audio and real video transmission of the meeting is being canceled due to technical problems with the server. We will be publishing video and audio clips as they are edited.

16:22 CET (GMT+2) - Zoran Djindjic’s speech sparks a spell of angry whistling and booing. The crowd reacts with discontent when the regime and individuals associated with it are mentioned in speech. He calls the ministers thieves. Djindjic appeals to the people present at the rally to spread the word that this is the year of changes. He quotes Churchill in his speech and says: we shall fight in the streets and the squares. The focus of his speech is the necessity to form a new democratic government in Serbia.

16:03 CET (GMT+2) - The focus of Zoran Djindjic’s speech is on the necessity for a new, democratic government in Serbia.

16:01 CET (GMT+2) - The president of the Democratic Party, Zoran Djindjic, is currently addressing the crowd. There are many people – the entire Liberty square is filled, as well as adjacent streets. It is our estimate that there are almost 150 thousand people.

16:00 CET (GMT+2) - Draskovic calls the regime a band of thieves and calls for a united effort to free Serbia. Vuk Draskovic has finished his speech, and we expect Zoran Djindjic, President of the Democratic Party, to take the stand.

15:59 CET (GMT+2) - Draskovic adds that the Russian people have elected Vladimir Putin, and not Zhirinivski. He says that we must fight for these elections and then unite Serbia with the world. He speaks of the necessity for cooperation with neighboring countries and Europe.

15:57 CET (GMT+2) - Vuk Draskovic, addressing the people, has appealed for changes, so that, in his own words, “their own children do not resent them”.

15:55 CET (GMT+2) - Vladan Batic and Dragan Veselinov spoke while we had some technical problems. It seems that they did not say anything of great significance, since we have not received word from our reporters.

15:53 CET (GMT+2) - Our reporters have estimated that there are more than 100,000 people in Liberty Square and that a military helicopter is patrolling over the rally.

15:53 CET (GMT+2) - ‘How long shall we go on like this’ asks Draskovic.

15:51 CET (GMT+2) - ‘We want justice, freedom of speech, freedom of the University’, says Draskovic. The masses approve. ‘We are already living in a concentration camp’ says Draskovic, calling the regime killers and the greatest bandits and greatest traitors in the history of this nation.

15:50 CET (GMT+2) - Vladan Batic and Dragan Veselinov spoke during our technical difficulties, but, obviously, said nothing significant.

15:49 CET (GMT+2) - Draskovic is addressing the crowd and mentions the members of his political party that were killed on the Lazarevac highway and says they were murdered.

15:48 CET (GMT+2) - Vuk Draskovic, the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement is currently speaking. The crowd is greeting him with “Vuce, Vuce” and “Bando crvena” (Red brigade).

15:46 CET (GMT+2) - The anthem has finished playing. The speakers are expected to address the crowd.

15:45 CET (GMT+2) - The anthem “Boze pravde” is echoing through Liberty Square. There is surely more than a hundred thousand people – many of them have arrived from outside Belgrade. Many of them are carrying slogans with the name of their cities.

15:43 CET (GMT+2) - The anthem “Boze pravde” is echoing through Liberty Square. There is surely more than a hundred thousand people – many of them have arrived from outside Belgrade. Many of them are carrying slogans with the name of their cities.

15:19 CET (GMT+2) - The streets Terazije and Srpskih Vladara have transformed into a pedestrian zone. Thousands of people are walking from Slavija towards Freedom square. There are 60,000 people at Freedom square, while thousands are arriving from all directions. Kolarceva and Makedonska streets are completely blocked.

14:35 CET (GMT+2) - The police stopped 11 buses with citizens headed for the meeting in Belgrade at the Bubanj Potok toll booth at approximately 13.00 today. Prior to this, the buses were stopped four times, while nine more buses from Smederevo were already waiting at the same place. The buses were let through later on.

14:34 CET (GMT+2) - This morning about a hundred supporters of the Serbian Renewal Movement from Jagodina and Mladenovac starter towards Belgrade for the rally.

14:30 CET (GMT+2) - Citizens from out side of Belgrade who have been watching the Studio B television have been unable to receive this TV station, since the airing has ceased from this transmitter.

13:16 CET (GMT+2) - HRH Crown Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic appealed to "all Serbs and citizens of FRY to stand united and create a wide movement for democratic changes, which will lead the nation into revival, order and prosperity".

13:14 CET (GMT+2) - Davor Arsic, a member of Otpor (Ressistance, student movement), was injured on Friday morning in Nova Pazova after being hit by a car. The incident happened while he was, with other security members, guarding a procession of students who are on their way from Novi Sad to the opposition rally in Belgrade on foot (80 km).

12:16 CET (GMT+2) - The Yugoslav authorities have refused entry to seven foreign journalists arriving at Belgrade's international airport, despite them having all the necessary paperwork. The Beta news agency said the journalists -- four Japanese, a Canadian and a German -- were ordered to remain at the airport to catch an early morning flight today Friday.The seventh, a Spaniard, left Yugoslavia on Thursday. It is not clear why the journalists were refused access to the country.