[ALBSA-Info] Tension ahead of Belgrade rally

[Alma Capa]

Monday, 15 May, 2000, 08:27 GMT 09:27 UK 
Tension ahead of Belgrade rally



Police have been taking down Otpor posters

Opposition leaders in Yugoslavia have accused the government of preparing for a violent confrontation ahead of a big rally in Belgrade on Monday. 
The opposition denied any involvement in political violence and said attempts by the government to implicate them in Saturday's killing of a prominent government loyalist are meant as a smokescreen for further repression. 



      The authorities have warned that they will act decisively against demonstrators
     

Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Martic said the authorities would use the full force of the law against anyone belonging to the student opposition movement Otpor. 

The rally in Belgrade is being held a week after the opposition cancelled a similar event in Pozarevac, the hometown of President Slobodan Milosevic. 

Mr Martic said the student movement was not a registered organisation and the police would deal with it accordingly. 

He said the authorities would take action against anyone seen with posters baring the distinctive Otpor symbol - a clenched black and white fist. 

Blame 


The authorities are blaming Otpor - which means Resistance - for Saturday's killing of the Socialist Party activist, Bosko Perosevic. 

Mr Martic described it as a neo-fascist organisation whose aim was to destroy Yugoslavia. 

Mr Perosevic was touring a trade fair in the northern Serbian town of Novi Sad on Saturday when a local guard, identified as 50-year-old Milivoje Gutovic, shot him in the head. 



      Bosko Perosevic was shot and died later in hospital
     

Police said in a statement they found "beyond doubt" that Mr Gutovic was an activist with Otpor and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and that a search of his home revealed "posters and propaganda material of Otpor and of Serbian Renewal Movement, as well as brochures on terrorism". 

Both Otpor and the SPO - which is run by charismatic opposition leader Vuk Draskovic - have denied the allegations and any connection with the gunman. 

Mr Draskovic quoted a local party official as saying the accusation was "an absolute lie". 

Tribute 

Mr Draskovic paid tribute to Mr Perosevic who "did not speak the language of hate, who was a man of cooperation. 

"One must look for those who ordered the killing of such a man within the more extremist elements at the top of this regime which wants to hold on to power by committing crimes, killing people and accusing others," said Mr Draskovic. 



      The last opposition rally was blocked by police
     

Ivan Marovic, an Otpor leader, said several activists had been summoned or detained for questioning in several Serbian towns, including Novi Sad. 

He accused the authorities of attempting to "use the tragedy... to crack down on political opponents." 

The shooting of Perosevic was the latest in a series of political assassinations in Yugoslavia, the most recent of which have struck at on senior figures in the governing elite. 

Zivorad Petrovic, general manager of the Yugoslav national airline JAT, was shot dead in April, while Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic was gunned down in February. 

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