(11 Aug 1999) Serbo-Croat/Nat
There are signs that opposition to President Milosevic is spreading throughout Serbia.
An opposition rally held on Tuesday night in the southern town of Pirot, an area which has previously always supported the Yugoslav leader, attracted three thousand people.
A series of opposition rallies is expected to climax in Belgrade next week.
The signs are not good for the Serbian president.
Southern Serbia has always been a vigorously pro-Milosevic part of the country.
Not any more.
This was the first opposition rally to be held in the town of Pirot, 250 kilometers (150 miles) southeast of Belgrade, but it managed to draw a crowd of three thousand.
The rally was addressed by the prominent opposition figure Zoran Djindjic, who has been touring the country for six weeks, calling for Milosevic's removal from office.
It was a message he repeated for the people of Pirot.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"At this moment we should be clever and, without being vindictive towards the government, we should ask ourselves what we should do to make our lives better."
SUPER CAPTION: Zoran Djindjic, Leader of Democratic Party
Smaller rallies were reported in other cities and towns.
Djindjic will be returning to Belgrade for what is expected to be a large rally organised jointly by the main opposition groups next Thursday.
There was little sign Milosevic himself was heeding the opposition's call.
Instead he was presiding over a meeting of top officials of his ruling Socialist Party.
According to state-run Serbian television the participants condemned NATO and accused it of using the opposition to try to enslave the country.
The state-run media regularly accuses opposition leaders of being stooges of the United States and NATO.
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