Protesters Air Economic Demands

Economic demands replaced political ones in a demonstration against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. In Belgrade, capital of both Serbia and the rump Yugoslavia, transport workers who had partially shut down service on city buses threatened a full strike. Meanwhile, teachers were protesting an attempt to quash their strike by the imposition of a wage increase far below their demands. “We’ve had enough. We are starving while the regime squanders money on the police force,” said Sofija Siradovic, a 35-year-old high school literature teacher who joined about 5,000 teachers blocking a street in front of Serbia’s main government building. Three months of political protests were suspended after Milosevic’s decision last week to recognize opposition municipal election victories in Belgrade and 13 other cities.