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TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

BYLINE=NENAD ZAFIROVIC

DATELINE=BELGRADE

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: VOA Serbian service repoter Nenad Zafirovic spent the past night on the streets of Belgrade with demonstrators celebrating the apparent collapse of President Slobodan Milosevic's government. He spoke by telephone with VOA's Paul Westpheling in Washington

Q: How has it unfolded that the people have taken back the government?

A: I will tell you one thing. I spent at least 12 hours with the people on the streets. When the clashes happened betweent the protestors and the police, I can tell, people were very angry. Nobody knows why and who started the clashes, but the good thing is the situation is very calm now. The people are on the street. It's not a lot of people like there were yesterday, but it's still people in the street, and they told us they will stay in the street till the end, and they mean till Vojislav Kostunica, presidential candidate of the Democratic Opposition in Serbia, goes to the federal parliament with members of parliament and announces that he is the president and has the parliament behind him.

Q: We have heard conflicting reports about where President Slobodan Milosevic has gone. Can you add anything new as to where he might be? We hear he may be in a bunker in Bor, which is on the Romanian border.

A: We heard the same story. We heard last night that some planes took off from Belgrade military airport. Some people mentioned some other places. But at this moment, nobody knows exactly where Milosevic is. Nobody confirmed that he is in Bor, close to the Romanian border. I spoke last night with presidential candidate Kostunica, and asked him about Milosevic, and he told me "We have much, much more important things to do than talk about Milosevic and think about him.

Q: What about the security forces on the streets? They were a significant presence on the streets earlier this week. Where have they gone?

A: Most of them are with the people now. But some police officers are in their stations, but the stations are now under opposition control. They call the people to stay calm, not to attack the police station, because yesterday between 5 and 7 in the evening, the protestors attacked two or three police stations in Belgrade. They completely burned down two or three stations, some of the policemen and demonstrators are wounded, but now the situation is much under control of opposition group.

Q: The police had weapons, and basically the people were shouting in the streets (no weapons). How has it developed that the police just laid down their weapons. Did the police just decide to give up?

A: Yes. I spoke with some of them who gave up. They told me "I don't want to go against my people. It's not war, it's civil war, and I don't want to participate in civil war, because they are my neighbors, my friends. My brother is there, one policeman said. And they just gave up.

Q: How would you descirbe the situation now? You say it is calm, and not many people on the streets?

A: In this moment, people are in the streets of Belgrade, and not only Belgrade, but in other cities in Serbia. What I must tell you is that the Democratic Opposition group controls almost the entire Serbia. Every city in Serbia. Only what they wait for, the leaders of the democratic opposition of Serbia, is the answer for the army. The army stayed away last night during the clashes, and they have contacts with the opposition, and they promised they will stay in their barracks until the end of this situation, whatever that means.

Q: Mr. Kostunica is being referred to as president-elect of Yugoslavia. Is he about ready to take power, or what is the next step in the process?

A: I think he's already taken steps, and already took power, but at this moment he doesn't have exact power. He controls the police, but he still doesn't control the army. He tried to gather all newly-elected members of parliament. As we heard, he spoke with representatives of Montenegro Socialist Party, which is close to Milosevic, and he invited them to come to Belgrade in a federal parliament and see what they can to resolve the situation. But in this moment, we can say he is already president of Yugoslavia.

NEB/PFH