A single debate has been scheduled to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Milosevic regime on Monday, an event usually marked by political parties and civil society organizations.

The only announced event to mark the anniversary is a debate titled October 5th: 20 Years Later, at City Smart Radio in the southern city of Nis. Ordinarily, the event is marked by the political parties that came to power in 2000 – Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), the late Zoran Djindjic’s Democratic Party (DS) and others who were allied with them to form what was known as the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS).    

The Milosevic regime was overthrown by a crowd estimated to number half a million people, gathered in central Belgrade to protest what was viewed as election fraud in the vote for the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).  

Then President Slobodan Milosevic faced off with opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica n September 24, 2000. The authorities claimed victory for Milosevic and the opposition cried foul and called for a mass protest on October 5 in front of parliament.  

The police was ordered to deploy in huge numbers, blocking roads in a failed effort to prevent people coming into the capital from across the country. The police fired tear gas to try to disperse the crowd in front of parliament and the nearby state TV (RTS) building. The crowd managed to break into parliament, setting part of the building on fire. Kostunica appearred on the balcony of Belgrade City Hall across the street from parliament on the evening of October 5 and Milosevic conceded victory the next day. Two people died in the demonstrations – a young woman who was run over by a truck and a man who died of a heat attack.      

Interestingly, a number of the politicians who were part of the Milosevic regime are now in power: President Aleksandar Vucic and Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic – both members of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) whose leader, convicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj was allied with Milosevic (Vucic was information minister and Gojkovic was federal deputy prime minister) – and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin – a member of the Yugoslav Left (JUL) headed by Milosevic’s wife Mira Markovic – as well as Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic – a senior official of Milosevic’s Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) which he now heads.