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More Than 2,000 Rally For Milosevic Release
BELGRADE, April 7 (News Agencies) - More than 2,000 loyalists of Slobodan Milosevic rallied in front of the Serbian government building Saturday to demand the release of the ex-Yugoslav strongman, jailed on charges of corruption and abuse of power.
Shouting "Free Milosevic" and brandishing placards with the slogan "It is not too late for reason", the rowdy but non-violent protesters turned out at the calling of Milosevic's Socialist Party (SPS), six days after police hauled the former president off to a windowless Belgrade prison cell.
The hour-long rally was one of the largest organized by the SPS, which is still officially led by Milosevic, since reformers swept to power after a bloodless popular uprising in October against the president and his cronies, many of whom are now also facing criminal probes on abuse of power charges.
Against the backdrop of the sagging ruins of the defense ministry and army headquarters, bombed in the NATO campaign against Belgrade over Kosovo, the tiny, hard-bitten minority that still supports the fallen leader waved Yugoslav and Serbian flags and chanted "Freedom to the hero".
Other supporters called "Save Serbia and come back Slobodan", a twist on the anti-Milosevic rallying cry "Save Serbia and kill yourself Slobodan" used during the October uprising.
They were some of the same, mostly older, supporters who had gathered outside Milosevic's posh villa last weekend, cheering him on during his more than 30-hour standoff with the police and angrily denouncing what they see as a campaign of vengeance against their nationalist hero.
Four top SPS officials - Branislav Ivkovic, Zoran Andjelkovic, Ziovorad Igic, and former foreign minister Zivadin Jovanovic - arrived at the demonstration to cheers.
Jovanovic told reporters that Milosevic should be freed to defend himself on bail.
"This is our principal message and demand," Jovanovic said, adding that if Milosevic were not freed, the SPS would continue to use "legal and peaceful means to command respect for the law, morality and the dignity of Serbia and the Serbian people."
Ivkovic was more vehement in his criticism of the new government of President Vojislav Kostunica.
"If Stalin were to rise from the grave, he would have a lot to learn from the new authorities," he said.
Prosecutors are investigating Jovanovic for abuse of power for allegedly issuing four fake diplomatic passports to Milosevic's son, Marko, Tanjug news agency reported Friday.
They are also considering accusations of abuse of power brought by Serbian police against Ivkovic, Tanjug said.
Igic told AFP he was satisfied with the turnout.
"It shows that we are succeeding in defending Slobodan," he said.
Dejan Backovic, a young SPS official, climbed onto the roof of a small truck equipped with a sound system and railed against Serbian police, who he said "used more officers [during Milosevic's arrest] than in the fight against terrorism in southern Serbia."
"It is a disgrace for the country," Backovic added.
Repeated assaults by separatist ethnic Albanians operating in southern Serbia led NATO to approve a redeployment of Yugoslav troops in parts of the area.
About 50 police officers guarded the government building during the rally but did not carry the anti-riot gear they frequently use at demonstrations.
A small group of SPS members said they aimed to visit Milosevic after the rally at the city's central prison, where a guard armed with a Kalashnikov stands watch.
Milosevic has also been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes committed in Kosovo, but Yugoslav officials are resisting their demand to hand him over immediately and want to first try him in Belgrade on the domestic charges.
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