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54-554: The first ever attempt at the organization of the event in Belgrade occurred in 2001, following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević 's regime ; yet it ended up with the violent assault on the organizers and participants by sport fans and extreme right wing activists. Authorities prevented further efforts to organize and register the event until 2010, a year after the adoption of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. That Pride, which

108-651: A CIA official who worked in the Balkans, said Milosevic was a "genocidal maniac"; when asked whether U.S. intelligence supported protests against the Serbian president, he said "It was a broad-spectrum involvement." David Shimer quotes an unnamed senior U.S. administration official in 2000 who took umbrage at the revelations of former U.S. intelligence officers: "I can’t talk about what we did or didn’t do. I’m just not going to talk about it...They may not take their oaths and legal obligations seriously, but I do." A DOS victory

162-630: A June 2000 meeting in Berlin that she wanted to see Milošević removed from power. Homen also met at the U.S. Embassy in Hungary with former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia William Dale Montgomery . According to Montgomery, "Milošević was personal for Madeleine Albright, a very high priority." He added: "She wanted him gone, and Otpor was ready to stand up to the regime with a vigor and in a way that others were not. Seldom has so much fire, energy, enthusiasm, money — everything — gone into anything as into Serbia in

216-562: A decade been a symbol and bastion of Milošević's rule. When their studios were taken over, the station was quickly renamed Novi RTS ("New RTS") as a sign that the regime had lost power. Although the protest was mostly peaceful, without a larger escalation of violence, 65 people were injured in the riots and two people died: In the time between elections and the protest, Milošević said that he would gladly resign but only when his term expired in June ;2001. Due to pressure caused by

270-518: A greater probability of beating Milošević in an election than that of Zoran Đinđić . Koštunica's critical stance on the United States was also significant, as he and his party, Democratic Party of Serbia , categorically rejected US financial support. In spite of this, Koštunica was an inevitable beneficiary of US support, witting or not, as other parties associated with either the DOS coalition or

324-797: A politically volatile environment; on 13 May 2000, the Chairman of the Executive Council of Vojvodina , Boško Perošević , was assassinated. Following his assassination, the Yugoslav Left announced it would propose a Law on the Defense of the State , which was scheduled to be assessed by the Parliament on 23 May 2000. Meanwhile, state-affiliated news outlets accused the opposition of the terrorism and subservience to NATO . The law

378-542: A potential electoral opponent. His decomposed body was found three years later in March ;2003. The four officers who had kidnapped him were sentenced. Milošević was charged for initiating the assassination. Soon after the announcement, the anti-government youth movement Otpor! led the campaign to topple the administration and introduce a transparent democracy. To unify opposition, eighteen parties in Serbia formed

432-631: A priority if he were elected. In October 1999, the National Democratic Institute hosted a conference at the Marriott Hotel in Budapest, inviting activists from the Serbian opposition. In the conference, Douglas Schoen advised opposition activists to campaign in a united coalition. At the conference, activists were shown an opinion poll commissioned by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates , depicting Koštunica with

486-496: A second round between Koštunica and Milošević would take place. The vote was largely boycotted in Montenegro and by Kosovo Albanians (not under Yugoslav control). Yet, Milošević officially won by a large margin in these parts of the country. These unexpected results provoked stronger accusations of election fraud and led DOS to call for peaceful protests to topple the government. Some obvious irregularities could be found in

540-559: A second round, that he would support Koštunica over Milošević in a runoff. "...we are really in the state where we are hostages--not only because of Milošević but because of some specific decisions in American policy which I do not understand entirely." Vojislav Koštunica, August 2000 Koštunica officially began his campaign in the Braničevo District on 30 August 2000. On 2 September, he officially submitted his candidacy to

594-414: A strategy to strip the leader of his legitimacy, turn his security forces against him, and force him to call for elections, the result of which he would not acknowledge. In 1998, a dozen students met to form Otpor! (Serbian for "resistance"). Analysing the mistakes of the 1996–97 protests , they realised they needed more effective organisation, strategy, planning, recruiting, and everything necessary for

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648-535: A sustained fight. Galvanised by outrage over new laws that imposed political control of their universities and harassment of independent media, the Otpor students called for the removal of Milošević and the establishment of democracy and the rule of law. Prior to this, Milošević was cracking down on opposition, non-government organisations and independent media. From 1991 onwards there were campaigns of civil resistance against his administration that were to culminate in

702-479: A united opposition candidate in the upcoming elections. In a meeting in Budva that summer, Branislav Kovačević and Nenad Čanak proposed that Ivan Stambolić run for president with the backing of a multi-party coalition. After the formal establishment of the DOS coalition, Stambolić met with Kovačević on several occasions. Several events occurred during the spring before the election that significantly contributed to

756-554: Is thought to have inspired the Georgia's Rose Revolution . Serbia's opposition organisation Otpor has been involved in training students in civil disobedience in Georgia. 2000 Yugoslavian general election Slobodan Milošević SPS Vojislav Koštunica DOS Milošević resigns on 7 October 2000 General elections were held in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 24 September 2000. They included

810-520: The Otpor! movement received a sum of $ 41 million in financial support from the United States from 1999 to 2000. USAID provided 5,000 spray cans for anti-Milošević graffiti and the printing of 2.5 million stickers with the message "Gotov je" , or "He's finished". The United States also paid for the training of electoral monitors in Szeged , Hungary , and subsequently paid monitors $ 5 each after

864-512: The Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition, with Vojislav Koštunica as the candidate to confront Milošević. Apart from this, two major opposition parties, Serbian Radical Party and Serbian Renewal Movement also had candidates ( Tomislav Nikolić and Vojislav Mihailović , respectively), but the main battle of the elections was the one between Milošević and Koštunica. The election campaign lasted for about two months and

918-746: The Federal Assembly elections, DOS emerged as the largest faction in the Chamber of Citizens, whilst the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro won the most seats in the Chamber of Republics. The elections were boycotted by the ruling coalition of Montenegro , led by the Democratic Party of Socialists . In the summer immediately following the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia , opposition parties began discussing who could run as

972-491: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after the general election on 24 September 2000 and culminated in the downfall of Slobodan Milošević 's government on 5 October 2000. As such, it is commonly referred to as the 5 October Revolution ( Serbian : Петооктобарска револуција, Petooktobarska revolucija ) or colloquially the Bulldozer Revolution ( Serbian : Багер револуција, Bager revolucija ), after one of

1026-547: The Kolubara mines on 29 September, which produced most of Serbia 's electricity. The protest reached its height on 5 October 2000. Several hundred thousand protesters from all over Serbia arrived in Belgrade to protest, chanting "Gotov je!" ("He's finished!") Unlike previous protests, there was no large scale police crackdown. The parliament was partially burned during the protests. Ljubisav Đokić (1943-2020)

1080-540: The international sanctions remained in place, and inflation was over 100%. In the winter before the elections, the European Union sent heating fuel to the cities of Niš and Pirot , which were governed by opposition parties. Political scientist Michael Parenti asserted that the EU was ultimately denying such shipments to the remainder of Yugoslavia, offering humanitarian aid only to towns which were not governed by

1134-558: The DOS coalition as well as the Serbian Radical Party and Serbian Renewal Movement announced that Koštunica won as much as 55% of the first round vote. The Federal Electoral Commission did not issue any statement until 26 September, when they announced that Koštunica had an eight-point lead in the first round, but did not record the required 50% of all votes cast to avoid a runoff vote. Electoral documents were subsequently incinerated. When Đinđić announced that his party, on

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1188-411: The DOS coalition claimed that Koštunica had received 52.54% of the vote. This led to open conflict between the opposition and government. The opposition organised demonstrations in Belgrade on 5 October 2000 , after which Milošević resigned on 7 October and conceded the presidency to Koštunica. Subsequently released revised election results showed Koštunica with slightly over 51% of all votes cast. In

1242-468: The DOS coalition formally endorsed Koštunica's candidacy. Dragan Maršićanin claimed that "voters were looking for someone who was a supporter of democracy but also a proven patriot and a nationalist in the kindest sense", and expressed his opinion that Koštunica had the closest such profile. The Yugoslav economy was struggling at the time of the elections; only a year after the NATO bombing campaign, many of

1296-584: The Federal Electoral Commission. Over the course of his campaign, he emphasised that he would seek the removal of international sanctions on Yugoslavia , return the country to international institutions such as the United Nations , and solve conflicts between the constituent republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Although Milo Đukanović supported Stambolić's bid for the DOS candidacy, he refused to support Koštunica and boycotted

1350-502: The Federal Electoral Committee official results. For example, the sum of the numbers of valid and invalid votes was not equal to the number of voters; the sum of the numbers of the voters voting at the polling stations and the voters voting at home exceeded the total number of voters; the sum of the numbers of the used and the unused ballot papers was short by 117,244 in comparison to the number of eligible voters,

1404-527: The West (in 2000, the average monthly salary in the country was $ 30). Researcher David Shimer wrote that most Serbs did not realize that the U.S. was directing the opposition's electoral strategy and funding the creation and distribution of campaign materials, although this was no secret. Among other things, U.S. President Bill Clinton instructed the CIA to direct efforts to prevent the Serbian leader from winning

1458-545: The Yugoslav parliament, it was now to be directly elected via the two-round voting system of presidential elections with a maximum of two terms. Many onlookers believed that Milošević's intentions for supporting such reforms had more to do with holding power than with improving democracy. On 27 July 2000, the authorities announced that the early elections were to be held 24 September 2000, although Milošević's term wouldn't expire until 23 July 2001. The elections for

1512-471: The campaign against Milošević, organizing meetings with opposition leaders outside the country and "providing them with cash" inside Serbia. Also, he said, "Many of the key players who became senior figures in the follow-on government continued to meet with us and continued to tell us that it was our efforts that led to their success." CIA Deputy Director John E. McLaughlin noted that "I know stuff about that, but I’m not able to talk about it." Douglas Wise,

1566-536: The decade's commercially highest performing films. Afterwards, Belgrade Pride again faced bans from the governing bodies. In 2013, however, the Constitutional Court of Serbia ruled that the 2011 ban had been a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of assembly , awarding damages to the organizers. The third pride parade was organized in 2014 in parallel with the first Belgrade Trans Pride, without any notable incident. Since then,

1620-556: The election entirely. Likewise, Vuk Drašković also refused to endorse him. Furthermore, Koštunica occasionally differed from the rest of the DOS coalition, such as in his criticism of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia . He stated that "there are many things about the Hague tribunal that are more about politics than law", adding that Milošević's indictment would not necessarily be

1674-594: The election. On 15 August 2000, the United States Department of State announced the opening of an office of Yugoslav affairs within the US embassy in Budapest . The Department of State added that the office "will consist of State Department and [USAID] officials and will work to support the full range of democratic forces in Serbia". The office's budget and specific role was not disclosed by diplomats at

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1728-1025: The event anyway. Vučić and the Government of Serbia then ultimately approved on 17 September that the parade could take place. With estimated 6.000 participents, the 2021 Belgrade Pride became the highest attended one so far. Minor incidents happened during the parade walk, orchestrated by contra protestors. Since 2014, Belgrade Pride has had the same demands, which include the following: Overthrow of Slobodan Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87 Anti-government protesters led by Democratic Opposition of Serbia Civic organizations: [REDACTED] Federal government of Yugoslavia Government parties: Vojislav Koštunica Zoran Đinđić Velimir Ilić Goran Svilanović Čedomir Jovanović Srđa Popović Slobodan Milošević Momir Bulatović Mirko Marjanović Radomir Marković Mirjana Marković President of Serbia and Yugoslavia Elections Family The Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević began in

1782-680: The event has been organized annually, except in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Over the years, public attitude changed with two thirds of participants of the Civil Rights Defenders research explicitly supporting the right to hold a pride parade in Belgrade. At the conference in Bilbao in 2019, Belgrade Pride was selected to host 2022 EuroPride in competition with ILGA Portugal, Dublin Pride and Pride Barcelona. Belgrade became

1836-511: The first city in the region, as well as the first one outside of the European Economic Area , to host the event. On 27 August 2022, President Aleksandar Vučić announced he would not permit EuroPride to go forward, citing current tensions between Serbia and Kosovo , economic problems, and concerns that anti-gay protestors could disrupt the event. Organizers of EuroPride denounced the decision and stated they would go forward with

1890-494: The first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes. His role in the Yugoslav Wars led to international sanctions against Yugoslavia, which had a devastating impact on the Yugoslav economy and society, while NATO bombing significantly damaged the country's infrastructure. While the overthrow of Milošević was reported as a spontaneous revolution, there had been a year-long battle involving thousands of Serbs in

1944-401: The largely non-violent revolution of October 2000. As the end of his first term in office of the president of Yugoslavia approached (previously, he had been elected president of Serbia , in two terms, from 1989 to 1997), on 6 July 2000, the rules of the election of the president were changed. Whilst the president of Yugoslavia had previously been chosen for one term only by the legislature, in

1998-411: The months before Milošević went". The International Republican Institute trained 400 activists outside the country, who returned to Serbia and trained another 15,000 people to observe polling stations inside the country. On election day, the opposition was able to get a minimum of two trained observers to each polling station in Serbia. Each observer's participation was paid at $ 5 - money provided by

2052-579: The most memorable episodes from the day-long protest in which a heavy equipment operator charged the Radio Television of Serbia building, considered to be symbolic of the Milošević regime's propaganda . Milošević's rule has been described by observers as authoritarian or autocratic , as well as kleptocratic , with numerous accusations of electoral fraud , political assassinations, suppression of media freedom and police brutality . He became

2106-409: The number of eligible voters was different from the one announced before the elections and has differed in the presidential, federal and local elections results. All of these discrepancies provoked massive outrage. The results were declared false immediately after Milošević was removed, and revised official results were released shortly afterwards. The new results were practically the same, except for

2160-454: The number of total votes and the votes for Milošević, both of which were lower by 125,000–130,000 votes, thus giving Koštunica an absolute, if narrow, first-round victory; Koštunica finished with just 11,843 votes over the threshold to avoid a runoff (4,916,920 voters cast their votes, so 2,458,461 votes were needed for a "50% of turnout + 1 vote" first round victory; Koštunica got 2,470,304 votes ). The protests initially started with strikers at

2214-470: The presidential and local elections in September would be held simultaneously; the constitution gave the president of Yugoslavia a four-year term, but Milošević organised presidential elections a year before his mandate expired. On 25 August 2000, Stambolić disappeared. Witnesses said that he had been kidnapped and "thrown into a white van" after walking from Košutnjak to a local restaurant. Meanwhile,

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2268-410: The presidential election, which was held using the two-round system , with a second round scheduled for 8 October. After the first round, the Federal Electoral Commission announced that Vojislav Koštunica of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) was just short of the majority of all votes cast needed to avoid a runoff against the runner-up and incumbent president Slobodan Milošević . However,

2322-490: The presidential election. According to the American president, "There’s a death threshold, and Milošević crossed it." Vince Houghton, who later became historian of the International Spy Museum, said the U.S. had no intention of allowing Milošević to remain in power. John Sipher, who became station chief in Serbia immediately after Milosevic's ouster, said the agency spent "certainly millions of dollars" on

2376-501: The protests, Milošević resigned on 5 October 2000. For a year leading up to the elections, the United States-funded consultants played a crucial role in the anti-Milošević campaign. The key symbol of the campaign was the slogan Gotov je! ( Serbian Cyrillic : Готов је! , meaning "He is finished!"), created by Otpor!. Part of the U.S. funding of the opposition (a reported $ 41 million) included 2.5 million stickers with

2430-594: The ruling parties. Some Kosovo Albanians voted for Milošević in hopes that it would lead to the further disintegration of Yugoslavia . This along with voter fraud and strong Kosovo Serb support allowed Milošević to win an absolute majority in the southern province of Kosovo . The DOS coalition asked the Serbian Renewal Movement to pull Vojislav Mihailović out of the race and to endorse their candidate, but Mihailović and his party refused. However, he added that if he were not to make it into

2484-527: The slogan and 5,000 spray cans for anti-Milošević graffiti. Material was channeled by the U.S. Department of State through QUANGOs . In the months leading up to the election, the National Endowment for Democracy provided funding to opposition parties and media, unions and student groups, with Otpor! being the largest beneficiary. Slobodan Homen, head of international affairs at Otpor, recalled how Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at

2538-399: The standard of the war-torn country. He even said that during Milošević's regime he was the owner of a company which operated with success, but that post-Milošević politicians made such unhealthy economic conditions, that his business failed and he went bankrupt, even selling his iconic wheel loader and living on 180-euro social benefits. Đokić died 11 July 2020. The Bulldozer Revolution

2592-471: The time. Koštunica, already under attack by accusations of collaborating with foreign powers, called the office "the kiss of death". After polling stations closed on 24 September, multiple parties and authorities reported extremely contradicting results. In a conference for journalists only a few hours after polling stations closed, Nikola Šainović initially announced that Milošević was leading with 50% to Koštunica's 31% of first round votes. On 25 September,

2646-499: The upper house of the federal parliament, Council of Citizens ( Veće građana ), as well as the local elections were also scheduled to be held on the same date. On 25 August 2000, Ivan Stambolić , a former mentor and political ally of Milošević, was mysteriously kidnapped and detained from his home and was summarily executed in Fruška Gora . The hit was believed to have been initiated by Milošević so he could prevent Stambolić from being

2700-414: Was a wheel loader operator who became the main symbol of the overthrow. Đokić turned on his wheel loader and filled a public broadcaster building in Belgrade with it. The loader served as a kind of elevator and bullet protection. Đokić had a spinal deformity and at the time he was a timber yard and construction material warehouse owner. The building's tenant, Serbian state television RTS , had for

2754-402: Was extremely tense, with numerous incidents, accusations of treason, independent media shutdowns and even murders. The vote took place on 24 September 2000. The DOS coalition reported that Vojislav Koštunica won over half of the votes, enough to defeat Milošević in a single round. The government-controlled Federal Electoral Committee claimed that no candidate won over 50% of the votes and that

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2808-560: Was guaranteed in parliamentary elections in December , where they achieved a two-thirds majority. On 1 April 2001, Milošević was detained by Serbian police and later transferred to The Hague to be prosecuted by the ICTY . He died in his cell on 11 March 2006, a few months before the conclusion of his four-year trial . Soon after the overthrow, Ljubisav Đokić started opposing the new government, saying it had done almost nothing to improve

2862-535: Was held in October 2010, is remembered for vandalization of the city and heavy violence from hooligans aimed at attendees of the pride, as well as at policemen. According to police reports, 140 people were injured during the event, out of whom 120 were police officers. The events from the 2010 Belgrade Pride were referenced in the 2011 movie The Parade , directed by Srđan Dragojević , which attracted significant audience in Serbia and former Yugoslavia , becoming one of

2916-536: Was never passed through the Parliament. In June 2000, Stambolić told Kovačević that he would run as the DOS candidate as long as the coalition parties approved of his candidacy, and that he run face-to-face against Milošević as opposed to a different SPS candidate. On 6 July 2000, the parliament amended the constitution of Yugoslavia such that the president would no longer be selected by the Parliament , but would be directly elected instead. He also announced that

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