Sept. 29, 2000

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) _ Opposition leaders were fighting to keep up the pressure on President Slobodan Milosevic to step down, urging more protests and work stoppages over the weekend to build on earlier massive demonstrations.

Students rallied Friday in southern Yugoslavia, shopkeepers shuttered their doors in the east and television workers cut off transmissions in the north. The actors' guild declared a strike, and most theater and cinema owners said they would shut down.

Several roads were blocked in northern and southern parts of Serbia and more than 7,000 coal miners stopped work in Kolubara, 25 miles south of Belgrade. Two protests in Belgrade's main Republic Square drew more than 50,000 people.

Police briefly blocked one of three main bridges over the Sava River, trying to prevent people and a column of about 100 taxi drivers from joining the evening protest.

Opposition leaders want the protests to pressure the Yugoslav strongman to admit that challenger Vojislav Kostunica won Sunday's election by a wide margin. Milosevic admits he finished second, but his government says the vote was so close that an Oct. 8 runoff is necessary.

Another critic of Milosevic, Bernard Kouchner, the U.N. administrator of Kosovo, accused the Yugoslav president of manipulating votes cast in that southern Yugoslav province.

"This man is a liar," Kouchner said of Milosevic and of his supporters' claims that 140,000 votes were cast in Kosovo, compared to the no more than 40,000 counted by U.N. monitors.

The gatherings in Belgrade were hastily organized and announced late Thursday night, hence drawing smaller crowds. News of opposition activity travels with difficulty _ mostly by word of mouth _ since the lone independent radio station was off the air in central Belgrade, where most of the capital's residents live, and the cellular phone network was jammed during the protests.

Outside Belgrade, thousands of high school students shunned classes in Nis, Serbia's third-largest city, and spilled into the streets _ some jumping out of first floor classroom windows in their haste to attend the protest. Waving anti-Milosevic banners, they chanted: "Save Serbia and kill yourself, Slobodan," while taxi drivers blockaded adjoining streets.

Nis Mayor Zoran Zivkovic told an evening rally attended by about 40,000 people that the protests will last "up to seven days," and that they will start in full force on Monday.

About 20,000 people gathered in Kragujevac and 10,000 in Kraljevo in central Serbia. In Novi Sad, the second-largest Serbian city, six employees of the state television were fired for wanting to organize a strike.

Similar walkouts _ joined by shopkeepers and company employees _ were staged in a dozen other cities and towns across Serbia, including the opposition strongholds of Cacak and Sabac.

Also Friday, Serbia's opposition lodged an official complaint with the Federal Election Commission, providing their own tally that showed Kostunica beat Milosevic 51.34 percent to 36.22 percent in Sunday's vote.

If the commission fails to respond to their complaint, the opposition will press the case to the country's constitutional court.

Vladeta Jankovic, an opposition leader, told the evening rally in Belgrade that Greece and Norway have agreed to send delegations to arbitrate over the election dispute. His claim could not be independently confirmed.

Many foreign leaders, including President Clinton, have promised to lift sanctions if Kostunica's victory is respected.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen has praised the growing anti-Milosevic movement, and noted, without giving specifics, that American forces were "prepared for contingencies."

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)