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Police enter coal mine to break up strike |
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October 5, 2000
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Slobodan Milosevic's police entered a major coal mine south of here Wednesday to break up the biggest strike launched so far to drive the Yugoslav president from power, an independent news agency said. Truckloads of police and soldiers entered the Kolubara mine complex, which employs 7,000 people, to break up a five-day strike that the government said threatened electricity supplies. A striker who answered the telephone at the facility said miners were refusing to leave the compound and so far there had been no clashes or arrests. He refused to give his name. The independent Beta news agency quoted a strike leader, Predgrag Stefanovic, as appealing to residents of nearby towns "to come and help us." The action came one day after the Milosevic government threatened "special measures" against leaders of strikes launched this week to force the Yugoslav president to concede defeat to challenger Vojislav Kostunica in the Sept. 24 election. Milosevic said Kostunica outpolled him in the five-candidate race but fell short of an absolute majority. A run-off is set for Sunday but the opposition has called for a boycott. Earlier, police arrested several truck drivers blocking roads in Milosevic's hometown Pozarevac about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Belgrade. Beta said the government had brought in strikebreakers from Kosovo, where many miners are out of work since NATO and the United Nations took over the province last year. The opposition has accused Milosevic of massive fraud in the election and on Wednesday sought to prove the allegations before Yugoslavia's Constitutional Court. The tribunal, which is full of Milosevic loyalists, met in emergency session to hear claims by the 18-party opposition coalition that the president's supporters manipulated election results by using a sophisticated software program. Opposition leaders said they had obtained a copy of the program and would use it to illustrate how the vote was rigged. Information Minister Goran Matic lobbed counter claims, saying the opposition "committed electoral fraud" and was now trying to provoke violence by "discrediting and denying the validity of the result." With dozens of road blocks in place for the third day as part of the opposition's campaign of anti-Milosevic civil disobedience, police attempted to clear roads in some areas but refrained from using force, the Beta news agency reported. But near Pozarevac, Milosevic's home town, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Belgrade, tensions grew after police arrested several truckers whose vehicles were blocking a road. Dozens of people subsequently sat down on the pavement, strengthening the blockade. The opposition planned a rally in Belgrade for Thursday billed as a final push to drive Milosevic from power. There were signs that Milosevic's control over the media, until now the principal propaganda pillar of his regime, was fraying. The main state-run daily in the northern province of Vojvodina declared Wednesday that its editorial policy would switch from following the government line to objectively reporting on events. Its Wednesday edition carried numerous reports on opposition activities. Previously, it had reported on the opposition only to criticize them as lackeys of the West. In Belgrade, where the civil disobedience campaign has been less noticeable than in other cities, more people appeared to be joining the opposition protests. Hundreds of stores were closed and city bus drivers and garbage collectors stayed off the job, leaving overflowing trash containers scattered in the streets. The postal service announced a warning strike for later in the day, and by noon, the city core was effectively put off limits to cars and other vehicles by thousands of pedestrians roaming the streets and blocking traffic. In an interview published in Moscow's Komersant daily, Kostunica said he believed Milosevic was preparing to resort to force. "He experiences no moral dilemma or torments of the soul about that," Kostunica said in comments published Wednesday. "However ... it is clear that he does not have enough force at present." The student-run Otpor, or Resistance, opposition movement demanded that Kostunica be declared the electoral winner, that he assume command of the armed forces and start naming ambassadors to Western countries that have recognized his victory. "We demand that Kostunica take up his post as president by Thursday in accordance with the will of the voters," the Otpor statement said. |
