In the winter of 1996âÂÂ1997, university students and Serbian opposition parties organized a series of peaceful protests in the Republic of Serbia (then part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) in response to electoral fraud attempted by the Socialist Party of Serbia of President Slobodan Miloà ¡eviàafter the 1996 local elections.
During the course of the rallies, students held their protests separately from the citizens' ones, led by opposition then gathered in coalition Zajedno (Together). The students' protest lasted until 22 March 1997, with additional requests of replacing the management of University of Belgrade and return of the university autonomy.
The protests started on 17 November 1996 in Nià ¡ where thousands of opposition supporters gathered to protest against election fraud. Belgrade University students joined on 19 November 1996 and protests lasted even after 11 February 1997, when Miloà ¡eviàsigned the "lex specialis", which accepted the opposition victory and instated local government in several cities, but without acknowledging any wrongdoing. The protests were strongest in the capital Belgrade, where they gathered up to 200,000 people, but spread over most cities and towns in Serbia.
On 24 December 1996 the government coalition called "Za Srbiju" ("For Serbia") organized a large counter-protest in Terazije. Miloà ¡eviàspoke to the crowd in Terazije, telling them "Serbia will not be controlled by someone else's hand". The crowd chanted "Slobo, we love you", to which Miloà ¡eviàreplied, "I love you too".
The 24 December protests in Terazije resulted in massive riots, during which a young protester from the SPO named Predrag StarÃÂeviàwas beaten to death. Another SPO protester, Ivica LazoviÃÂ, was shot in the head the same night by a SPS supporter à ½ivko SandiÃÂ. Although Lazoviàsurvived, he ended up with an arm and a leg paralyzed after a life-saving operation in the emergency room. Lazoviàeventually met Sandiàin court, where he asked him, "brother, why did you shoot me?" Sandiàallegedly replied, "I don't know", and Lazoviàforgave him in person, saying "if my sacrifice was needed to prevent civil war in Serbia, then so be it."
After the 24 December violence the government banned all street protests in Belgrade from 26 December 1996. Nebojà ¡a ÃÂoviÃÂ, the mayor of Belgrade and an SPS member, claimed to have criticized the government's idea of counter-protesting, but that a majority of the SPS party board supported it. Miloà ¡eviàallegedly ordered police to stay disengaged from the counter-protest. ÃÂoviàsuggested to other SPS members that the counter-protest was risky, and defied Miloà ¡eviÃÂ's orders by calling in riot police. ÃÂoviàwas subsequently kicked out of the SPS in January 1997. He stood by his decision years later, claiming that civil war could have begun if it were not for the intervention of riot police that night.
On the night of 2âÂÂ3 February 1997 a confrontation occurred between riot police and protesters on Branko's Bridge, during which the police fired water cannons at the protesters, even though the outside temperature was âÂÂ6 ðC (21 ðF). Vesna Peà ¡iÃÂ, leader of the Civic Alliance of Serbia, was hit by the police on the same night. According to Naà ¡a Borba, 29 protesters ended up in the Urgent Care emergency room, while the "Anlave" clinic received 50 patients that night. After the incident, Yugoslav Left spokesman Aleksandar Vulin said: "They complain that the police used water cannons on the protesters at âÂÂ10 ðC. Well, they're not going to pour hot water on them, are they?"
In January 1997, a large column of riot police blocked off KolarÃÂeva street in Belgrade for several weeks, in spite of the continuation of a standoff with the student protesters. However, on 27 January 1997 the riot police opened KolarÃÂeva street, after which Patriarch Pavle and other members of the Serbian Orthodox clergy led a silent crowd of approximately 300,000 to the Church of Saint Sava. Contrary to what was reported at the time, the riot police left KolarÃÂeva street several hours before, as they anticipated the Patriarch and the crowd he would take to the Church of Saint Sava.
In early 1997, Wired journalist David Bennahum met philosophy professor Novica Miliàat a conference in Berlin called the "Data Conflicts: Cyberspace and the Geo-Politics of Eastern Europe", after which Miliàinvited him to apply for a visa to visit Yugoslavia during the protests. Bennahum applied, eventually entered Yugoslavia and wrote about his experience and the alleged role of the internet in the protest mobilization in an article called "The Internet Revolution". Bennahum wrote about the existence of an internet stream called Sezam Pro, which broadcast the independent radio station B92 after it had been censored by the Yugoslav government on 3 December 1996. Voice of America and BBC recorded these internet streams and broadcast them back to Belgrade through short-wave frequencies, whose signals were picked up by the radio. At the time of the protests, at least 8 million people were living in Yugoslavia, of which no more than 10,000 had access to the internet. Speaking to Nedeljnik, Milan Boà ¾iÃÂ, a math professor who met with Bennahum to discuss internet access in Yugoslavia, claimed that Bennahum endangered him and Miliàby publishing their names in his article, adding that there had been an agreement to keep their identities hidden from the authorities. Miliàalso commented for Nedeljnik, stating that Bennahum "severely exaggerated" the role of the internet in the 1996âÂÂ1997 protests.
Richard Holbrooke commented on the issue in his memoirs, recalling that the Americans were not able to support the protests due to the transitional period to the Clinton II Administration: