GOVERNMENT BAN FAILS TO HALT OPPOSITION RALLIES IN BELGRADE.Byline: Jane Perlez Jane Perlez is a journalist who, until recently, was the Southeast Asian bureau chief of The New York Times, based in Jakarta. She is currently assigned to the London bureau of the Times[1] Personal The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Defying increased pressure from President Slobodan Milosevic to stay off the streets, tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators poured into central Belgrade on Thursday, apparently energized rather than cowed by the heavy police presence. Milosevic's Interior Ministry announced Wednesday night that demonstrations would be banned across Serbia on Thursday and that the police would intervene to stop them. A far larger number of police officers was on the streets Thursday, many with riot gear riot gear n → uniforme m antidisturbios inv riot gear n in riot gear → casqué et portant un bouclier riot gear n and tear-gas canisters, shutting off entrances to the main square and preventing demonstrators from gathering in one large crowd. But despite police violence against anti-Milosevic demonstrators Tuesday, and even though temperatures were bitterly cold, about 60,000 supporters of the opposition gathered in the snowy downtown area Thursday. A small group of protesters was beaten by baton-swinging police officers when the former tried to leave the main square at the end of the rally, though apparently the police did not use as much force as they had Tuesday. Other officers pushed crowds aside to free a street for traffic. As Milosevic stepped up police tactics against people now in their 37th day of protesting his rule and the country's economic devastation, the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. continued its criticism, saying he was responsible for violence Tuesday that left 58 people hurt. ``The issuing of orders restricting demonstrations appears to be an attempt to prevent the marchers from exercising their rights and can only increase the possibility of confrontation and violence,'' a spokesman for the State Department, John Dinger Dinger can refer to:
The confrontation between Milosevic, one of the last autocratic leaders left from Europe's old Communist world, and the emboldened em·bold·en tr.v. em·bold·ened, em·bold·en·ing, em·bold·ens To foster boldness or courage in; encourage. See Synonyms at encourage. Adj. 1. protesters entered a new phase of menacing unpredictability after the show of police force Tuesday. Many Western diplomats say they believe that Milosevic, after a month of hoping the demonstrations would peter out, is now trying to gain control of the situation, which is spinning further out of his grasp than he can tolerate. But few here are prepared to predict what he will do. In 1991, he sent the army in to quell antiwar an·ti·war adj. Opposed to war or to a particular war: antiwar protests; an antiwar candidate. demonstrators, but he is now presiding over an economically ruined country. Rumors gripped Belgrade on Thursday night that the three main leaders of the opposition parties grouped as Zajedno, or Together, were about to be arrested. In a show of pique Thursday, Milosevic refused to see the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat here, Richard Miles Richard Monroe Miles was born in 1937 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He grew up in rural and small-town Indiana. After serving in the Marine Corps from 1954 to 1957, he obtained degrees from Bakersfield College, the University of California at Berkeley and Indiana University. , the charge d'affaires. Instead, Miles was relegated to seeing Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovic. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: A Serbian opposition supporter flashes the Serbian three-finger salute to a riot-police cordon Thursday. Associated Press |
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