W-OLF
03-18-2006, 06:17 PM
Tens of Thousands Bid Goodbye to Milosevic
Published: 3/18/06, 11:46 AM EDT
POZAREVAC, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Greeted with flowers and cheers, Slobodan Milosevic's body arrived in his hometown for burial Saturday after a farewell ceremony in Belgrade that drew at least 80,000 admirers in a strong show of Serb nationalism.
The coffin of the former Serbian leader, who died a week ago while on U.N. trial for some of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II, was displayed outside city hall in this gritty industrial town before burial in the backyard of the family estate.
As a brass band played a funeral march, some 15,000 people lined the main street into Pozarevac, cheering and waving as the hearse passed slowly. Many threw red roses, the symbol of Milosevic's Socialist Party.
In Pozarevac, Milosevic was to be buried beneath a backyard linden tree where he first kissed his wife, Mirjana Markovic, who is living in Russia in self-imposed exile. She reportedly has said she wants to be buried with him when she dies.
Private BK television showed the empty grave in the middle of a square of crimson carpet framed by brass stands holding red velvet ropes.
Security was tight in Pozarevac, with police on heightened alert and extra ambulances parked around town. A curtain of red roses hung over the entrance to the estate.
Socialist organizers said no member of the immediate family would attend the burial. Milosevic's wife faces Serbian charges of abuse of power during his 13-year reign.
Authorities refused to approve an official ceremony for Milosevic, who presided over four Balkan wars in the 1990s that took 250,000 lives during the breakup of Yugoslavia. But Saturday's farewell organized by his Socialist Party had many of the trappings of a state funeral.
In Belgrade, the capital, an estimated 80,000 people - many of them bused to Belgrade from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo - packed a square in front of the federal parliament building.
Many wept uncontrollably and chanted "Slobo! Slobo!" at the sight of the flag-draped coffin on a bier atop a red-carpeted stage. Some clutched photographs of Milosevic or the U.N. war crimes tribunal's two most-wanted fugitives: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic.
"Slobo is a hero and heroes never die," read a banner held aloft by the crowd. "Tribunal kills," said another.
Top ultranationalist leaders and at least five retired former Yugoslav army generals wearing parade uniforms stood by the stage. Serbian television, which broadcast the ceremony live, reported that an elderly mourner died of a heart attack during the two-hour ceremony.
"We are bidding farewell to the best one among us, fully conscious of his greatness," Socialist deputy president Milorad Vucelic said.
"Our Serbia will rise like a phoenix from the ashes - it will forever be proud of you and your legacy," Vojislav Seselj, a Serbian ultranationalist leader in custody at The Hague, said in a letter read by Radical Party official Aleksandar Vucic.
"I promise to carry on the battle against The Hague criminals with the same fervor you had. May God grant you blessings of paradise. May the sacred Serb soil grant you eternal peace."
But some drivers passing by the square honked their horns and made obscene gestures at the Milosevic supporters, most of whom appeared to be middle-aged.
Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general and longtime Milosevic supporter now on Saddam Hussein's defense team, also spoke to the crowd.
"History will prove that Slobodan Milosevic was right," Clark said, drawing cheers in a eulogy that savaged the West for its "determination to dismember Yugoslavia."
"It is critically important to remember his struggle to preserve Yugoslavia," Clark told The Associated Press. "He became president at a time of greatest crisis. Everyone knew his health was failing but he was not granted proper medical care (during his captivity). Amid the struggle, his heart gave up."
Later Saturday, about 2,000 anti-Milosevic activists gathered at another central Belgrade square. The crowd of mostly young people waved red balloons, whistled, danced and shouted: "He is gone!"
They also burned Milosevic's picture and scuffled briefly with a dozen Karadzic supporters trying to disrupt the gathering.
Milosevic died a week ago in his room in a detention center near the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, which was trying him on 66 counts of war crimes, including genocide. He was the first head of state to be indicted for such crimes.
Milosevic's Socialists and ultranationalists, ousted from power with Milosevic in 2000, hope to make political gains from their leader's death.
An estimated 70,000 people viewed the coffin in its two days of public display at Belgrade's Museum of Revolution, but the turnout was much lower than organizers' predictions of hundreds of thousands and nowhere near the huge crowds Milosevic commanded in his heyday.
Milosevic's lawyers alleged he was poisoned, but the tribunal said Friday an autopsy and toxicology tests showed there were no medicines in the body in quantities high enough to kill him.
credit BellSouth
Published: 3/18/06, 11:46 AM EDT
POZAREVAC, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Greeted with flowers and cheers, Slobodan Milosevic's body arrived in his hometown for burial Saturday after a farewell ceremony in Belgrade that drew at least 80,000 admirers in a strong show of Serb nationalism.
The coffin of the former Serbian leader, who died a week ago while on U.N. trial for some of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II, was displayed outside city hall in this gritty industrial town before burial in the backyard of the family estate.
As a brass band played a funeral march, some 15,000 people lined the main street into Pozarevac, cheering and waving as the hearse passed slowly. Many threw red roses, the symbol of Milosevic's Socialist Party.
In Pozarevac, Milosevic was to be buried beneath a backyard linden tree where he first kissed his wife, Mirjana Markovic, who is living in Russia in self-imposed exile. She reportedly has said she wants to be buried with him when she dies.
Private BK television showed the empty grave in the middle of a square of crimson carpet framed by brass stands holding red velvet ropes.
Security was tight in Pozarevac, with police on heightened alert and extra ambulances parked around town. A curtain of red roses hung over the entrance to the estate.
Socialist organizers said no member of the immediate family would attend the burial. Milosevic's wife faces Serbian charges of abuse of power during his 13-year reign.
Authorities refused to approve an official ceremony for Milosevic, who presided over four Balkan wars in the 1990s that took 250,000 lives during the breakup of Yugoslavia. But Saturday's farewell organized by his Socialist Party had many of the trappings of a state funeral.
In Belgrade, the capital, an estimated 80,000 people - many of them bused to Belgrade from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo - packed a square in front of the federal parliament building.
Many wept uncontrollably and chanted "Slobo! Slobo!" at the sight of the flag-draped coffin on a bier atop a red-carpeted stage. Some clutched photographs of Milosevic or the U.N. war crimes tribunal's two most-wanted fugitives: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic.
"Slobo is a hero and heroes never die," read a banner held aloft by the crowd. "Tribunal kills," said another.
Top ultranationalist leaders and at least five retired former Yugoslav army generals wearing parade uniforms stood by the stage. Serbian television, which broadcast the ceremony live, reported that an elderly mourner died of a heart attack during the two-hour ceremony.
"We are bidding farewell to the best one among us, fully conscious of his greatness," Socialist deputy president Milorad Vucelic said.
"Our Serbia will rise like a phoenix from the ashes - it will forever be proud of you and your legacy," Vojislav Seselj, a Serbian ultranationalist leader in custody at The Hague, said in a letter read by Radical Party official Aleksandar Vucic.
"I promise to carry on the battle against The Hague criminals with the same fervor you had. May God grant you blessings of paradise. May the sacred Serb soil grant you eternal peace."
But some drivers passing by the square honked their horns and made obscene gestures at the Milosevic supporters, most of whom appeared to be middle-aged.
Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general and longtime Milosevic supporter now on Saddam Hussein's defense team, also spoke to the crowd.
"History will prove that Slobodan Milosevic was right," Clark said, drawing cheers in a eulogy that savaged the West for its "determination to dismember Yugoslavia."
"It is critically important to remember his struggle to preserve Yugoslavia," Clark told The Associated Press. "He became president at a time of greatest crisis. Everyone knew his health was failing but he was not granted proper medical care (during his captivity). Amid the struggle, his heart gave up."
Later Saturday, about 2,000 anti-Milosevic activists gathered at another central Belgrade square. The crowd of mostly young people waved red balloons, whistled, danced and shouted: "He is gone!"
They also burned Milosevic's picture and scuffled briefly with a dozen Karadzic supporters trying to disrupt the gathering.
Milosevic died a week ago in his room in a detention center near the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, which was trying him on 66 counts of war crimes, including genocide. He was the first head of state to be indicted for such crimes.
Milosevic's Socialists and ultranationalists, ousted from power with Milosevic in 2000, hope to make political gains from their leader's death.
An estimated 70,000 people viewed the coffin in its two days of public display at Belgrade's Museum of Revolution, but the turnout was much lower than organizers' predictions of hundreds of thousands and nowhere near the huge crowds Milosevic commanded in his heyday.
Milosevic's lawyers alleged he was poisoned, but the tribunal said Friday an autopsy and toxicology tests showed there were no medicines in the body in quantities high enough to kill him.
credit BellSouth