Free Serbia News - May 25, 1999 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/news/e-index.html Free Serbia-NEWS Tuesday, May 25th, 1999. NATO intensified daylight attacks on cities in Serbia and Kosovo. During the day, Beograd, Sabac, Kraljevo, Zrenjanin, Kragujevac area and Uzice were attacked. Also, overpass on Belgrade-Nis highway was targeted. During last night, building of Serbian Interior Ministry in down Belgrade were struck again. Also, attacks on Serbian power network were repeated. Antiwar protests are continuing. In Cacak, members of Citizen parliament are arrested and convicted. Montenegrin official stated that after the war draft dodgers will not be tried. http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/news/e-utorak25maj.html Tuesday, May 25th, 1999 Anti-war protests in Serbia Protests of citizens have been announced in Prokuplje. 11 coffins with bodies of soldiers killed in Kosovo arrived in this city, yesterday. Protests are to be held after the funerals. Several hundreds of people gathered yesterday in center of Krusevac. Protests were mostly parents of soldiers who are in Kosovo. They demanded immediate return of their sons home. Their protest was monitored by police forces which can be seen everywhere in the city. There were no incidents. Military command stated that protests of soldiers and their families won't be tolerated in the future. They threatened protesters with arrest. Military command also officially forbid any public gathering during the air-raid warning. Reservists from Aleksandrovac who refused to return to Kosovo, attempted to join protest in Krusevac on Sunday. Near the Begovo brdo, halfway to Krusevac, they have been held by strong police and military forces. They were forced to return to Aleksandrovac where they held their own protest. More than thousand reservists and citizens took part in the protest. Because of police road blocks, groups of reservists from nearby villages were also prevented to participate in Krusevac protest. Unconfirmed sources from Krusevac reported that near Kopaonik mountain, military forces held more than thousand reservists from Krusevac and Aleksandrovac who also left Kosovo without orders. In Cacak, members of Citizen Parliament tried, mayor's fate unknown Several members of Citizen Parliament in Cacak were arrested yesterday and they were tried immediately. They were tried by council led by judge Zoran Belacevic, former official of SPS (Milosevic's party). During the trial, large group of citizens gathered in front of the building where the trial was held. They cheered and applauded when arrested members left the court. During the protest in front of the court building, Gvozden Nikolic, cameraman of TV Cacak was arrested. Names of arrested members of Citizen parliament are: Mirjana Hercog, pediatrist; Nada Despotovic, professor; Milan Bozovic, professor; Verica Barac, district attorney; Dragan Sipetic, shop owner; Vladimir Stegnjajic, businessman and Vesna Bjelic, correspondent of Serbian independent Beta news agency. At 11.00 verdicts were announced. Only one member of Citizen Parliament was freed, rest of them were charged with 2500 to 7500 dinars. Fate of Cacak mayor, Velimir Ilic, is still unknown. His been missing since Friday, 21st of May. All attempts to get information from authorities failed. Citizen parliament demanded from civil and military officials to inform the public of Ilic's whereabouts, but they were left without answer. Few days ago, military police looked for Ilic in his hometown, and his brother was arrested and interrogated. Former deputy prime minister accuses Milosevic for genocide of Serbian people Vuk Draskovic, leader of SPO (Serbian Renewal Movement party) and former deputy prime minister, stated that Milosevic will be responsible for genocide of Serbian people, if he doesn't accept proposals of Group 8. In past few days, NATO intensified attacks on Serbian infrastructure, permanently damaging power network in Serbia. Draskovic said that such actions of NATO are "slow genocide" and he accused Milosevic that he's responsible for suffering of civilians because of his refusals of international community proposals. Montenegro will not try draft dodgers Rifat Rastoder, vice-president of Montenegro parliament, said that civilian authorities in Montenegro are not capable of protecting draft dodgers, but he also promised that after the war none of those people will be tried for draft refusing. Belgrade At 02.45 loud explosion was heard from Belgrade suburb Surcin. At the same time, Strazevica in Rakovica and area of Lipovicka suma were also attacked. At 03.50 building of Serbian Interior Ministry was hit with two missiles that didn't explode. This building was attacked twice before, and it was already completely demolished. At 04.00 area of Batajnica was attacked with several missiles. At the same time, 7 missiles slammed into area of Obrenovac power plant. Power lines in Boljevicka suma that connect Obrenovac and Belgrade were badly damaged in the attack. Also, number of residential buildings in Obrenovac were damaged as a result of explosion. Entire part of Belgrade across the Sava river was blacked out at 04.10 as the result of the same attack. At 14.30 two explosions were heard from Obrenovac, two more from Batajnica suburb and another two from Makis. During the afternoon attack on Obrenovac, radio transmitter of Radio Belgrade near Zvecka village was hit. Sabac Last night at 02.50 four explosions were heard from direction of Mt. Cer, south of the city. At 13.10 military barracks "Mika Mitrovic" in very center of Sabac were hit with more than five missiles. According to latest information, one person is seriously injured, and three are wounded. Rescue teams are searching for casualties or injured. Nis At 21.30 TV transmitter on Mt. Slicevci near Gadzin Han village, vicinity of Nis, was attacked. Several different transmitters (radio, TV, telecommunications) are located on mountain. Apparently, missile missed it's target. At 22.50 nine loud explosions were heard in Nis, but all of them was result of AAA fire. Almost entire Nis is without electricity for more than a 24 hours. Power was restored only on small part of the city, and it's expected that complete restoration will take place tomorrow, if there are no further attacks on power network. Kosovo According to latest information, recent attacks on Istok prison left 100 people dead and more than 200 injured. Among casualties are deputy governor and several guards, but most of them are inmates. During the Monday and Tuesday attacks, large number of villages in Kosovo were targets. Last night, total of fifty missiles hit Kosovo province. At 17.00 yesterday, vicinity of Stimlje was hit with one missile, at 17.20 Glogovac near Pristina with four missiles. Between 19.30 and 20.00 Berkovo village, 6 missiles. At 21.30 area of Prizren was attacked again, this time village of Landovice was hit with 12 missiles. Around 23.00 two bombs fell on Sedlare village near Lipljan, and at 23.15 three missiles hit Glogovac area again. Between 23.10 and 23.40 Slatina airport near Pristina was attacked with total of 13 missiles. Today, at 13.20 Kosovska Kamenica was attacked, and at 14.00 Lipljan was attacked again. Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of a U.N. fact-finding mission in Kosovo, told a news conference everything he had seen during a three-day trip indicated that Serb forces had chased out ethnic Albanian residents, leaving behind burned houses and ghost towns. Kragujevac >From our Kragujevac correspondent - At 12.20 5 missiles hit the Maintenance facility in vicinity of Kragujevac. According to the official information, there were no dead or wounded. Material damage is yet to be estimated. According to unconfirmed reports, area of Mt. Rudnik was on the aim. Other news Yesterday at 15.30 NATO launched its first daylight attack on Zrenjanin suburb (5km away from city center. At 02.50 and 03.45, loud explosions were heard from region of Sremska Mitrovica. Around 03.00, five missiles struck TV and telecommunication transmitters on Zabucje hill near Uzice. On Zabucje, there is a residential area where majority of buildings were damaged. Even the buildings in the very center of the city there were damaged. At 05.40 bridge over Danube-Tisa-Danube canal in Despotovo village near Vrbas was hit with 3 missiles. Daylight attack on Kraljevo lasted from 11.00 to 11.30. During the attack, five missiles hit suburb Jarcujak (3km from center), and fuel depot "Beopetrol" in Bogutovac was hit three missiles. This depot was already destroyed in previous attacks. At 12.20 one missile hit an overpass on Belgrade-Nis highway between Jagodina and Ribare village. Missile missed the target and fell in the front yard of nearby house, injuring one woman. At 13.00 three missiles struck Zdraljica village near Kragujevac. Around 13.45, twelve missiles Novi Pazar. At 13.00 nearby Sjenica was also attacked. At 14.30 Crni Rt between Sutomore and Canj (on the Adriatic Coast in Montenegro) was attacked. c Copyrights Free Serbia, 1999. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nyteeu-05.26.99-20:21:48-25966