Serbian Renewal Movement: March-9-1991 One of Brightest Days in Serbian History

Vuk Draskovic (BETA/Nenad Petrovic)

The Serbian Renewal Movement has stated that March 9, 1991 was "one of the brightest days in Serbian history" because vast numbers of protesters gathered in Belgrade and showed the "determination to fight for a Western Serbia and European values -- and against Eastern autocracy and totalitarianism."

In a press release commemorating the 31st anniversary of the protests -- during which two people died and several hundreds were injured -- the Serbian Renewal Movement said that the goals set three decades ago "remain current. . . and a reminder that Serbia must enter the EU and continue its internal Europeanization."

"That means a complete divorce from the security service practices born in totalitarian times, and their reliance on external centers of power whose goal is to constantly cause war and conflict, conquer the territories of others and suppress the national. . .  and democratic rights of the people," the statement reads. "Serbia as a proud member of the family of free, democratic and prosperous European peoples and states," was the ideal put forth thirty years ago on March 9, the press release further said and concluded that this same ideal is what the Renewal Movement stands for today.

The 1991 demonstrations -- which gathered tens of thousands of people -- took the lives of high school student Branivoj Milinovic and police officer Nedeljko Kosovic, while hundreds of people were injured. In the wake of the rally, during which Serbian Renewal Movement leader Vuk Draskovic was arrested, the Serbian Assembly accepted the resignations of top management of the state-run Belgrade Television Station as well as of then-minister of internal affairs Radmilo Bogdanovic.