World News 06-10-2000 Serbia Liberated By People`s Revolution who: Slobodan Milosevic what: Ousted in people`s uprising where: Belgrade when: Yesterday snippet: "Slobodan Milosevic`s state was burning to the ground last night," reports The Times, "as a million people seized Belgrade in a ferocious outburst of revolutionary power." Alex Todorovic in The Times explains how he and four other journalists "inadvertently began the half-hour uprising that demolished the Milosevic dictatorship" by clambering onto the steps of the parliament to get a better view of a public speaker. "Misinterpreting our purpose," he says, "the crowd followed... A few dozen were followed by hundreds, then thousands surged up the steps of parliament". Shortly afterwards, a fire was started which gutted president Milosevic`s seat of power and the crowd moved on to seize the state-run RTS television station. "Police who had been firing tear-gas ran out of the back of the buildings, threw away their flak jackets and helmets and joined the protests," says Steve Crawshaw in The Independent. "The whereabouts of Mr Milosevic and his entourage, many of them with international arrest warrants for war crimes on their heads, was unknown." "A new phase has started today, one where power will be changed with elections," said Vojislav Kostunica, the leading opposition presidential candidate in last weekend`s disputed poll, who appeared on television last night. "We are living the last twitches of Milosevic`s regime. Democracy has happened in Serbia. Communism is falling. It is just a matter of hours." Western leaders have shown their support for the uprising. "The people are trying to get their country back, and we support democracy and the will of the Serbian people," said president Bill Clinton yesterday. "The verdict from the elections was clear. The verdict on the streets is clear," said Tony Blair. "The message for Milosevic is clear. Go. Go now. Go before any more lives are lost, before there is any more destruction." [... more]

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