Opposition Representative: Prior to Oct. 5 Citizens Were Fed Up with Reign of Terror

Srdjan Milivojevic (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Democratic Party MP Srdan Milivojevic compared the state of society and the media on Oct. 5, 2000 when the regime of Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in mass demonstrations to defend citizens' electoral will, with today saying that there were more free media outlets back then as opposed to today's "catastrophic" media scene.

Milivojevic told the Oct. 5 edition of the Danas newspaper that prior to Oct. 5, 2000 the situation was "far worse" economically and security-wise, because Slobodan Milosevic had "no qualms about killing his political opponents," while the country was under sanctions, but that the sentiment of citizens was clear and that they had had enough of the reign of terror, while the opposition was united.

"The opposition is now divided, the economic catastrophe has not yet peaked despite the catastrophic managing of the economy. Organized crime is a far greater threat, while the world is quickly turning its back on Vucic's mafia regime which has not qualms about using bribery to buy support. On the other side (Serbian President Aleksandar) Vucic is playing a patriot, much worse than Milosevic, while the events in Kosovo on Sept. 24 this year have entirely changed reality," Milivojevic said.

He said that, unfortunately, the media situation today was catastrophic that "90 percent of the media is under the absolute control of an advanced mafia regime and that everything boils down to propaganda and not providing information."