Workers protests shake fragile Serbian govt

In the biggest labour action since Slobodan Milosevic’s overthrow three years ago, thousands of workers demonstrated in Belgrade today to demand the dismissal of Serbia’s pro-Western government that toppled the former president.

The protesters, led by a trade union that was close to Milosevic during his ruinous rule in the 1990s, also demanded early parliamentary elections and the stoppage of the government-organised privatisation of state-run enterprises.

About 3,000 workers, many bussed to the capital from all over Serbia, gathered at a Belgrade square, honking horns and carrying anti-government banners.

“We won’t disperse until our demands are met,” said Milenko Smiljanic, the leader of the Independent Trade Union, which organised the protest.

He had earlier said that at least 50,000 protesters would attend.

Police, which had banned a planned march in front of Serbia’s parliament, were deployed in the hundreds in front of the parliament building in full riot gear. Police water cannons stood nearby.

The protest coincided with an initiative in the parliament, launched by nationalists and other parities allied with Milosevic, to vote the pro-democracy government out of office.

Serbia, the dominant republic in the Serbia-Montenegro union, is struggling to overcome the effects of Milosevic’s rule, which ruined the economy and made the country one of the poorest in Europe.

Milosevic was extradited in 2001 to the UN war crimes tribunal, where he is now standing trial for alleged atrocities by his troops during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

There have been increasing signs of serious labour unrest in Serbia as the new government failed to radically increase living standards.

The painful process of closing or privatising state-run companies – steps urged by Western creditors – has further increased unemployment. The jobless rate stands at more than 30%.