Miloš Jovanović, MA
Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia
THE PROTESTS OF THE SERBIAN OPPOSITION DURING THE YUGOSLAV CRISIS IN MARCH 1991
Vol. XLIII, 2/2025, pp. 525–542
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2025.2.jov.525-542
ABSTRACT/RESUME:
The opposition protests in Belgrade in the first half of March 1991 were organized by the main opposition parties against the propaganda by the Radio Television of Belgrade. This propaganda was about the alleged collaboration between the Serbian opposition party and the enemy regime in the Republic of Croatia. This was the continuation of the bad reporting against the political opposition after the first multi-party elections in 1990. The protests on the 9th of March 1991 were followed by violent crashes and a conflict between the police and protesters. The reason for this situation was the fact that these protests were forbidden. In the night, the Yugoslav army intervened, which was ordered by the Presidency of Yugoslavia. The continuation of the propaganda against the opposition was the main reason for the mobilization of students from Belgrade University. They had protests in the city centre for the next 4 days. The ruling party accepted their demands after three days, regardless of their demands being similar to the requirements of the opposition parties on the 9th of March. These protests happened during the Yugoslav crisis and the beginning of disintegration of the state. The Presidency of Yugoslavia tried to use these events and the conflict in the Croatian city of Pakrac between Serbs and Croats, seven days before the Belgrade protests, to declare a state of emergency. But they didn’t have the majority to implement it.
KEYWORDS: 9th of March 1991, opposition, Presidency of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milošević, Vuk Drašković, Radio Television of Belgrade, student protests
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