5 October – Two Decades Since the Fall of Slobodan Milošević

Zoran Živković on ‘the peaceful Serbian revolution’ ‘Victory was won at the election’

On the eve of the 5 October change of power, leader of New Serbia Zoran Živković was the mayor of Niš. On that day, he made his way from Niš to Belgrade with a group of supporters. Belgrade was where, he says, the ‘great peaceful Serbian revolution’ took place. ‘5 October wasn’t just a single night, or a single day. It was an entire project aiming to bring Serbia back to normality from the edge of the abyss. Step one was forming the DOS coalition and winning the election on 24 September 2000. That victory was a result of hard work, campaigning, the courage of the people, and the courage and wisdom of those who ran against Milošević in the election. I think of 5 October as ‘additional works’ – the chief part was achieved at the 24 September election. So essentially, we defeated Milošević in the election, and not in the street. But, since he wasn’t willing to acknowledge our victory, we had to convince him by bringing a couple thousand people to his door,’ Živković said for Kurir.

It was agreed to gather up at the centre of Belgrade around 3pm and start the protest. He adds that storming the Parliament was not part of the plan:

’However, some of those gathered there, provoked by the tear gas or, rather, the chemical weapons that they used against us, lost patience and went into the Parliament building. Our job was to make them get out of there and ensure they weren’t causing any kind of damage, because it is above all the people’s assembly building, and it shouldn‘t be destroyed. In the evening, one of the major problems was how to find Vojislav Koštunica, because the job was done by around 3.30pm – the police and the military had taken sides with us, we had entered the RTS building as well, speeches were being delivered from the City Hall balcony, and it was only then that he showed up. He said that all that while he had been in a basement in Dorćol,‘ Živković recounted. During the night, he added, they were in control of the situation in Belgrade and all of Serbia. S. Slamnig

Casualties Jasmina dead

Jasmina Jovanović from Miloševac (near Velika Plana) was run over by a truck and killed. Momčilo Stakić from Krupanj died from a heart attack. As many as 65 people sustained injuries in the streets of the capital.

Minister Zorana Mihajlović in the protests It was my duty to be at the protests

’Somehow I knew that 5 October was the day. I went to the protests with my mother, there was tear gas everywhere, we couldn’t breathe, and the police attacked us.‘

’The power of the people was burned in my memory. It was unstoppable.’ Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction Zorana Mihajlović was in the streets with her mother on 5 October 2000. They had swallowed a lot of tear gas, she said in a conversation with Kurir, and were attacked by the police. All that, she added, was nothing compared to the life they had lived before – poverty, salary paid in coins, her brother at the front in Vukovar.

Wars and the crisis ’The 1990s, all the way until 5 October, was a very difficult period: wars and lying to the people that there was no war when our fathers and brothers were in it. My first cousin on my mother’s side, who I was very close to, was in Vukovar. He came back alive, but all that had an impact on his future, and he dropped from the university. Then there were the horrific economic sanctions,’ Mihajlović said, adding: ’In the early 1990s, I was living with my mom, in Novi Beograd and then in the city centre. I remember the power cuts...’ She found employment right after graduation, she recounted: ’The salary that I was getting was a few Deutsche Mark coins. The petrol obtained off the books, the bombing, the closing off of Serbia ... Yes, I fought with everything I had against Slobodan Milošević’s regime. ’I went to all the student and other protests, because that wasn’t the country in which I wanted to have a child.’ When the country rose on 5 October, she said she had known that that was ‘the day’.

Solidarity ’At that time I was employed at Elektroistok (EPS, Elektromreža today). Somehow I knew that 5 October was the day. I went to the Parliament building with my mother, there was tear gas everywhere, we couldn’t breathe. We got away and headed towards the Narodnog Fronta street. Mom was by my side throughout. Fighting and going to almost all of the protests. The police attacked us, but we somehow managed to escape. There was solidarity among people, we took care of each other, but what got burned in my memory was the power of the people and the enormous hope and love of life and country. It was unstoppable,’ Mihajlović recounted, adding:

‘Milošević and his regime never stood a chance. We wanted the people to be respected, because the job of a statesman is not to lead the country into war, but to preserve peace and stability, and to protect the territorial integrity and do whatever they can for the people. Milošević was no statesman.’