17 years since the democratic changes
On September 24, 2000, elections, Milosevic lost to the candidate of Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Vojislav Kostunica
It has been 17 years since the great demonstrations in Belgrade which ended the reign of Slobodan Milosevic on 5th October. The demonstrations erupted after Milosevic refused to recognize the results of the election for the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
On September 24, 2000, elections, Milosevic lost to the candidate of Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Vojislav Kostunica.
The protesters arrived in Belgrade on October 5th in front of the then Federal Assembly and today's National Assembly House, they arrived from all over Serbia in lines of cars, buses and trucks, tens of kilometers long, breaking through the police roadblocks with bulldozers.
In morning hours, the police used tear gas to prevent demonstrators from entering the Parliament building, but they were unsuccessful. The building of Federal Assembly was demolished and set on fire, as well as the building of Radio Television Serbia in Takovska street. Police soon stopped resisting and started joining the citizens.
In the evening on October 5, 2000, the new FRY president Vojislav Kostunica addressed the citizens from the terrace of the Belgrade Assembly, and on the following day, October 6, Milosevic recognized the election defeat and congratulated Kostunica.
Jasmina Jovanovic from Milosevac near Velika Plana has died in the demonstrations, she fell under the wheels of the truck. Momcilo Stakic from Krupanj died from a heart attack. 65 people were injured.
In April 2001, Slobodan Milosevic was arrested for financial fraud, and two months later he was extradited to The Hague tribunal where he was charged with genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Croatia and Kosovo. He died on March 11, 2006, from a heart attack in his cell in the Hague Tribunal.
(Telegraf.co.uk / Beta)