Serbia marks President Slobodan Milosevic overthrow

Serbia marked on Thursday the fifth anniversary since the ouster of strongman Slobodan Milosevic, with his democratic successors expressing regret at the slow pace of change since the massive popular uprising.

"There are very few in Serbia today who can be satisfied with the results recorded by Serbia since" Milosevic's overthrow, said Serbia's current pro-Western president, Boris Tadic.

"To say that all is as it was before would be dangerous. Serbia after October the 5th is different, but it is quite simply not different enough," Mr Tadic told a conference organised to commemorate the day.

On October 5, 2000, hundreds of thousands of Serbians took to the streets of central Belgrade demanding Milosevic concede defeat in a Yugoslav presidential election after more than 10 years of autocratic rule.

Milosevic was forced to step down after his previously loyal security forces refused to intervene when groups of protesters stormed the federal parliament building and state-run television headquarters, a symbol of his demagogic regime, reports the Advertiser.

Milosevic is being tried at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for fomenting the Balkan wars of the 1990s, reminds Scotsman.

P.T.