23 years have passed since the October 5th changes in Serbia

23 years have passed since the October 5th changes in Serbia

This led to the resignation of the former president of the FRY, Slobodan Milošević, and major political changes.

The protest in the center of Belgrade, in front of the Federal Assembly building, was organized after the Federal Election Commission contested the victory of the candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), Vojislav Koštunica, in the elections for the President of the FRY, held on September 24, 2000.

The mass demonstration was preceded by a general strike called by the leaders of the then DOS.

The Federal Election Commission announced that the DOS candidate won 49 percent of the vote and announced a new round of voting.

DOS representatives claimed that Koštunica won 52.54 percent of the votes and refused to hold a second round of elections. Estimates of the number of participants in the protest in the center of Belgrade differ, but it is probably the largest gathering ever against the government of Slobodan Milošević.

The massiveness was directly caused by the widespread belief that electoral manipulation had taken place, as well as by the mass discontent accumulated during the nineties.

Tens of thousands of citizens from the interior flocked to Belgrade then, mostly in the organization of DOS. Convoys of buses and other vehicles moved from various parts of Serbia to Belgrade. For some time, the police forces tried to stop the convoys on local and regional routes as well as on the approaches to Belgrade. For the most part, the impression was that the police acted listlessly, routinely.

Some demonstrators broke into the building of the Federal Assembly, which was secured by a small number of police forces. The police station in Majke Jevrosime Street was also occupied. An intrusion took place in the nearby RTS building in Takovska. As in the Parliament and RTS, a part of the space was demolished and a fire broke out.

The next day, Slobodan Milošević admitted his electoral defeat. After the meeting with Vojislav Koštunica, the DOS presidential candidate, on October 6 around 10:00 p.m., he addressed the public and announced his withdrawal via a private television station in Belgrade. Milošević then congratulated his opponent on his victory, and announced for himself that he would continue to devote himself to his family.

Despite the guarantees given, Milošević was arrested on April 1 of the following year, and in June he was extradited to the Hague Tribunal, where he died during the trial in March 2006.

On October 7, 2000, Vojislav Koštunica took the oath before the members of the Federal Assembly. According to official data, in the elections of September 2000, Koštunica received 2,470,304, or 50.24 percent of votes, while Milosevic had 1,826,799, or 37.15 percent of votes.

There were casualties on October 5th protest - activist of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Jasmina Jovanović died when she fell under an excavator, and protest participant Momčilo Stakić died of a heart attack. Dozens of people were injured, both citizens and members of the police.

The leaders of the broad coalition of parties that made up the then DOS, 23 years later are on different and even opposite sides when it comes to political commitment.

The key figures of those events are no longer present. Zoran Djindjić and Slobodan Milošević are not among the living. Vojislav Koštunica retired from active politics.