A media clampdown is under way in Serbia as President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia fights for control of the airwaves prior to crucial local elections this year.
Urged by opposition politicians, several thousand people have already taken to the streets to protest about local radio and television closures. Six television and radio stations have been attacked, disabled or shut down. The outcome of the media war is vital to both the Milosevic regime and the opposition parties.
The media war is a prelude to the local polls which must be held by next October, according to the constitution. No date has been set, but mid-May is viewed as the most likely time.
The last local elections brought major defeat for Mr Milosevic. Control of local government includes the municipality's television and radio station and it is those opposition-held outlets that are now being targeted.
The latest assault on press freedom began last week when armed men in police uniform arrived at the Belgrade television station Studio B transmitter, bound and beat a technician and guard,and took away crucial equipment.
Studio B is owned by the mercurial opposition politician Mr Vuk Draskovic, of the Serbian Renewal Party, but he has recently opened it up to other opposition leaders.
Since then Federal Telecommunications officials have sanctioned action to shut down a string of radio and television facilities in the cities of Pirot, Pozega, Cuprija and Pozarevac, as well as Belgrade.
And they have signalled their intention to close more, claiming that money is due for use of the frequencies. This may be true because debt is a way of life in Serbia for individuals and organisations, but rigorously policing it threatens widespread unrest.
The Yugoslav telecommunications minister, Mr Ivan Markovic, said 168 radio stations and 67 television stations are operating without a licence and their total debt is 120 million dinars - about £18 million sterling according to the black market.
Condemnation of the clampdown has been widespread. The London-based human rights group, Article 19, urged European governments to protest. The Democratic Party leader, Mr Zoran Djindjic, said defence of the non-government media was crucial for "fair elections and the survival of the opposition".
Reuters adds: Serbian intellectuals yesterday began work on setting up a "truth commission" to confront the war crimes committed by their fellow countrymen and to encourage Serbs to face up to their history.
One participant at the three-day gathering in Montenegro called their task dangerous and possibly life-threatening.
Mr Veran Matic, initiator of the conference called "Truth, Responsibility and Reconciliation", said the aim was to create public support for a committee to confront the past, a mammoth task in Serbia, where many, if not most, people believe either they are the ones wronged or that all the warring factions are equally guilty.
Mr Nebojsa Popov, editor of the Belgrade journal Republika, said those who now supported such a move were a tiny minority. "We are in fact like barefoot priests, going around propagating our ideals."
Mr Matic acknowledged that a truth commission similar to that launched in South Africa after apartheid could not work while Mr Milosevic was in power. But he said the aim was to pave the way and ensure that future leaders did not try to skirt the issue.