Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro – Serbia’s pro-Western president accused the conservative government Wednesday of betraying the ideals of the popular uprising that ousted former President Slobodan Milosevic five years ago.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s coalition was reviving “political violence” and “persecution of opponents,” similar to that which existed in Serbia during Milosevic’s 1987-2000 autocratic rule, Boris Tadic wrote in Politika daily.
“Everything that had burdened Serbia under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic is back again,” he wrote.
Tadic’s criticism illustrates the deep divisions among leaders of the anti-Milosevic coalition five years after the former president was toppled Oct. 5, 2000.
Dozens of citizens complained during media talk shows that events had not lived up to their expectations.
“Nothing has changed,” a Belgrade man said on a B92 radio talk show, identifying himself only as Aleksandar.
“All Oct. 5 ideals have been betrayed,” said Ksenija Simic, also from Belgrade, referring to the demonstrations in 2000 that erupted after Milosevic attempted to annul Kostunica’s triumph in a presidential election. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Belgrade and other Serbian cities for days, forcing Milosevic to concede defeat and step down.
At the time, pro-democracy leaders, including Tadic and Kostunica, promised to work together to bring Serbia out of international isolation and economic misery. But the two split soon afterward.
