Vučić names day West ‘passed verdict’ on Serbia
Aleksandar Vučić, the lead candidate of the electoral list backed by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), said on Monday that October 5, 2000, when Slobodan Milošević’s regime was overthrown following mass protests, was the “day when the West passed its verdict on Serbia” regarding Kosovo and Montenegro’s departure from the state union.
“Let me remind you of the words of former Foreign Minister Goran Svilanović, who said that everyone who entered Budapest to receive money had to sign, before taking the money, that they would accept Montenegro’s independence, which was a prerequisite for the subsequent attempt to secede Kosovo,” Vučić told supporters at a pre-election rally in Banoštor near Beočin.
26th Anniversary of Demonstrations Marked
Serbia is marking the 26th anniversary of the major demonstrations in Belgrade, which erupted after then-President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević refused to recognise the results of the presidential election held on September 24, in which he lost to Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) candidate and Democratic Party of Serbia leader Vojislav Koštunica, CE Report quotes FENA.
On October 5, 2000, protesters gathered in the square outside what was then the Federal Assembly, arriving from across Serbia in convoys stretching for dozens of kilometres. At several locations, they used bulldozers to break through police roadblocks.
Protesters Enter Federal Assembly
Despite police having already used tear gas to prevent them from entering parliament, demonstrators managed to storm the building. The Federal Assembly and the Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) building on Takovska Street were vandalised, Beta recalls.
After police stopped resisting and largely joined the citizens, the newly elected President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Koštunica, addressed the demonstrators from the balcony of the Belgrade City Assembly that evening.
The following day, October 6, Milošević officially acknowledged his electoral defeat and congratulated Koštunica.
Photo Facebook/buducnostsrbijeavucic
