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DOS G17+ DSS DAN SD SZP: DS GSS DHSS SDP: LSV SDU Otpor!

Rally of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, April 14, 2000.

September 20, 2000 - Belgrade

Convention of Democratic Opposition of Serbia

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21:31 CET (GMT+2) - Vojislav Kostunica: "How miserable is this life of ours now... How miserable is the state whose freedom depends on a single man (the crowd begins to jeer and shout), how poor and miserable is the state whose prosperity depends on a single man (the public jeering and booing again), how miserable is the state whose defence and protection depends on that man. Miserable is the country taken hostage by only one man. This must be terrifying and horrible for that man, the current Yugoslav president. I admit that I would be also terrified if I were in his shoes. I admit that I would withdraw if I were in his position. But Slobodan Milosevic would not do that for anything in the world (the crowd chanting, demanding his resignation...). He's acting as if he were Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil; he's behaving as if there will be nothing left after he's gone. Today our state is drowning beneath him. I'm just an ordinary man, just like all of you, and my intention is not to try to change the world, my intention is to change this state of ours for the better. I'm well aware that you want to live in a normal democratic state which should be integrated in the mainstream of Europe. We wish to live in a state which is free and wise, and therefore, democratic. Both you and I wish to live in a state which is independent. We all wish to live in an average country in which everything would be normal and average: media, health care, social security, economy.... We want to live in an normal European state. So little and yet so much we need to do in order to achieve our goal. However, there are those people who say that whatever is average is also boring to death. So many turbulent and catastrophic events have been happening for the past decade... for the past ten or even fifty years. Let's see what these dramatic events have brought to us: wars in which "we haven't been involved" and yet corpses and coffins have been streaming from those war-plagued territories back to the country. These horrible events resulted in columns of refugees streaming from the predominantly Serb-populated region of Krajina in Croatia towards Serbia, and then from the southern Serbian province of Kosovo to Serbia proper.... The consequences of those horrible events are isolation, sanctions, queues, social unrests, insecurity, uncertainty... last year's villainous NATO bombing campaign against our country... In the aftermath of such a chain of sinister events we have been presented by fait accompli reflected in the signing surrender papers in Kumanovo, Macedonia, and yet ironically, this shameful capitulation has been declared a victory by the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. Today we have foreign troops and foreign administration in the southern Serbian province. Those people who brought those foreigners to Kosovo certainly will not drive them away from the province. Entire Serbia wants to live at peace with the world. Our wish is to translate the New Testament's message of peace into reality. We wish to live in peace, in a democratic state, in a state with the rule of law and order, in which the authorities will be in fear of the will of the people, and not vice versa. Let us wish to live in a country in which its citizens will have no reason to fear misery and poverty, in a state of peace and serenity. This is what the Democratic Opposition of Serbia and myself, as the presidential candidate, are pledging to fulfill. This is our promise. This is our political platform for the upcoming elections. This is a platform which could be summed up in one word only - PEOPLE. Their political agenda could be summed up in a single word - POWER, power at any cost, holding on to power until the last citizen of Serbia is sacrificed for their benefit. The Serbian Democratic Opposition and I, as the presidential candidate, are promising that after September 24 our country will not be governed by foreigners, our adversaries, occupying forces... we, the people, will take over the reins of power. Dear Belgraders, dear Serbia, this is our offer. Now it's up to you to accept and verify our offer on Sunday, September 24. Let good Lord help us and give us enough courage and wisdom to win freedom on September 24 for the whole of Serbia. OF COURSE!

20:38 CET (GMT+2) - The presidential candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia appears on the stage and addresses the public. The people have welcomed him with ovations.

20:36 CET (GMT+2) - A popular singer Momcilo Bajagic appeared on the stage and sang one of his popular songs "My friends are scattered throughout the whole world...". He said that he would cast ballot for Mr.Kostunica and the Serbian Democratic Opposition. A professor of the Belgrade University Electrical Engineering Faculty, who was barred from entering the faculty building by a new government-appointed dean, said that he wanted to work "at a free university". "That's why I'm voting publicly in front of all of you for Kostunica and the Democratic Opposition", Radunovic said. Popular rock singer Bora Corba also called on the citizens of Belgrade to vote Milosevic out of office by voting for Kostunica. He performs with his band Riblja Corba one of his most popular songs "Look at your home, angel". The members of the public are also chanting "Save Serbia and kill yourself, Slobodan!".

20:22 CET (GMT+2) - Milan St. Protic, one of the Democratic Opposition leaders, was warmly welcomed by the crowd on his appearing on the stage. A popular actor Miodrag Petrovic Ckalja, Nebojsa Ristic (independent TV Soko editor-in-chief, who served one-year prison sentence for putting up a poster "Free Press" on a window in his office), and actor Branislav Lecic speak to the members of the public appealing to them to go to the polls on Sunday and "vote for a better life, for better Serbia".

20:16 CET (GMT+2) - Milan St. Protic, one of the Democratic Opposition leaders, was warmly welcomed by the crowd on his appearing on the stage. A popular actor Miodrag Petrovic Ckalja, Nebojsa Ristic (independent TV Soko editor-in-chief, who served one-year prison sentence for putting up a poster "Free Press" on a window in his office), and actor Branislav Lecic speak to the members of the public appealing to them to go to the polls on Sunday and "vote for a better life, for better Serbia".

20:11 CET (GMT+2) - Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) candidates for federal parliamentary elections, including Boris Tadic, Ljiljana Lucic, Nada Kolundzija, Zarko Korac and others, have come out on the stage. The candidates from the DOS election list for the seats in both chambers of the Federal Parliament are being presented to the citizens of Belgrade. A huge Otpor flag featuring a clenched fist is spread over the heads of Belgraders who have flocked in front of the parliament building to welcome the Democratic Opposition candidates and Vojislav Kostunica.

20:02 CET (GMT+2) - A traditional Serbian brass band plays the popular tune "Mesecina" ("Moonlight"). Well-known Yugoslav actors, actresses and singers appear on the stage performing a new song entitled "It's Time!". It is announced that Vojislav Kostunica, the presidential candidate of the Serbian Democratic Opposition, will soon address the crowd. For the time being, only a few police officers have been seen in the streets. There are no signs of more substantial presence of the riot police in the city centre. At the moment, according to our reporters' estimate in the field, there are about 200,000 people attending the rally.

19:53 CET (GMT+2) - Dragoljub Djuricic addresses the crowd shouting "Changes!" and "Who? Who? Who?". At the moment there are more than 100,000 Belgraders in front of the Federal Parliament's building. A large flag with the clenched fist, the symbol of the Otpor movement, can be seen at the back of the stage.

19:48 CET (GMT+2) - About 50,000 people gathered for the rally of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) in front of the Federal Parliament building in downtown Belgrade. Columns of people streaming towards the plateau have blocked the traffic in the neighbouring streets. Dragoljub Djuricic and his drummers are on the stage and the powerful sound of drums reverberates throughout the city centre.