It has been 24 years since the massive demonstrations in Belgrade on October 5th, 2000, which ended the reign of Slobodan Milosevic. Nearly a quarter of a century later, the country is governed by political actors against whom the citizens fought, some of whom were once part of the opposition and “fighters” for democracy. As with other significant events, the citizens remain divided on this issue, and the majority of young people know almost nothing about it.
The reason for the demonstrations on October 5th, 2000, was the presidential election for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) held on September 24th of that year. The opposition, united under DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia), claimed that its candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, had won the first round and contested the official election results, accusing the government of fraud.
At the call of DOS, citizens from all over Serbia arrived at the square in front of the then Federal Assembly in kilometer-long convoys of cars, buses, and trucks, breaking through police blockades with bulldozers on certain roads.
By late morning, the police had used tear gas to try to prevent demonstrators from entering the Assembly building, but the protesters still managed to demolish and set the building on fire, taking out furniture and other items. Protesters also stormed the building of Radio Television of Serbia on Takovska Street.
The police soon ceased to resist and largely joined the citizens.
On the evening of October 5th, 2000, the new president of the FRY, Vojislav Kostunica, greeted the citizens from the terrace of the Belgrade Assembly. The next day, on October 6th, Milosevic conceded electoral defeat and congratulated Kostunica.
During the demonstrations, Jasmina Jovanovic from Milosevac near Velika Plana was killed after falling under the wheels of a truck. Momcilo Stakic from Krupanj died of a heart attack, and a total of 65 people were injured.
One topic that remains in public discourse and is one of the main criticisms of the leadership of the parties that made up DOS at the time is the absence of a so-called “October 6th” – a radical confrontation with the actors of the previous regime across all areas of society.
Nenad Canak insisted on lustration, while Milan St. Protic noted the immediate need to call elections for a constitutional assembly and to arrest and prosecute “at least 100 people responsible for the policies pursued during Milosevic’s era.”
In 2020, Boris Tadic said that there had never been a majority in favor of radical reforms.
Bozo Prelevic, a lawyer and Co-Minister of Internal Affairs in the first post-October 5th government, stated that there were great expectations from October 5th, but not all those leading it were sincere.
Citizens remain divided on this issue, as they are on all other major events in Serbian history.
Those who had high hopes for a better life following October 5th now speak of that date with disappointment and a sense of unfulfilled expectations.
On the other side are those who believe that “traitors and thieves” took power on October 5th, selling off the country. This narrative is supported by the current government through pro-regime media, with constant reminders of how things were under “the former,” the “yellow thieves,” and the “DOS-ites,” while leaving out the part about the state of the country when they left power in 2000.
Sociologist Vesna Pesic stated in 2021 that the current president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, hates October 5th because he fell from power that day as the Minister of Information in the government of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Serbian Radical Party (SRS).
As for Aleksandar Vulin, now a minister without portfolio, and formerly head of the police, military, and the Security Information Agency (BIA) – October 5th was, in his view, a defeat for the Serbian state and the day when “the worst” took over Serbia.
“The October 5th coup brought an anti-national and anti-Serbian regime to Serbia that carried out plundering privatizations and threw thousands of workers into the streets,” Vulin’s Movement of Socialists stated on the anniversary of October 5th in 2021.
Journalist Zoran Panovic once remarked that Vulin is coldly served revenge by President Vucic against the winners of October 5th.
Perhaps the most disheartening fact, more than two decades later, is that young people either don’t know about this event at all or have incomplete and incorrect information.
In a survey published last year, when asked if they knew what happened on that day, young people who thought they knew responded that demonstrations were held over the assassination of Zoran Djindjic or that the government fell, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
