Yugoslav leader Milosevic blasts opposition seeking his ouster

Published: Tuesday, October 12, 1999

LESKOVAC, Yugoslavia {AP} Defending his policies despite years of war and economic ruin, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Monday called opposition leaders seeking his ouster cowards and said they want to turn Serbia into a pro-Western colony.

Milosevic's first direct reaction to weeks of street protests against him came as major Serb opposition leaders angry with European Union demands for the Yugoslav president's extradition backed out of a key meeting Monday with EU foreign ministers to discuss ways to help the pro-democracy movement.

The protests that have been held daily since Sept. 21 continued when several thousand marched Monday evening in Belgrade, in a rally dedicated to a journalist, Slavko Curuvija, slain by unknown gunmen six months ago.

"Belgrade, how long will you hide behind curtains and watch the police cordons block the streets?" said the journalist's brother, Jovo Curuvija, who accused the government of being behind the killing.

"How long will you keep quiet?"

Earlier, Milosevic reopened a railway station destroyed by NATO air strikes in Leskovac, 120 miles southeast of Belgrade, and told some 5,000 supporters that opposition leaders could not rebuild the country.

He accused opposition leaders of seeking to unleash "civil war" and install a pro-Western "colony" run by a "local traitor" or the "conqueror himself."