A RECORD 250,000 people marched through Belgrade yesterday on the 28th day of protests against alleged government election fraud. In an important development, a court restored an opposition victory in the southern Serbian city of Nis.
Demonstrations spread across Serbia to 30 towns and cities, 13 more than on Saturday, with the sheer size of the crowds posing an increasingly vocal challenge to President Slobodan Milosevic's rule.
"This is bigger than Saturday's protest," a reporter for an independent Belgrade radio station said. "It's the biggest so far, it's enormous.
After the main Belgrade rally tens of thousands of students joined a torchlit procession around the city's wintry streets carrying lanterns, candles and flashlights.
In a significant breakthrough for the opposition, a court in the city of Nis ordered the local election commission to hand back victory, won in the elections, to leaders of the opposition Zajedno (Together) coalition.
The US envoy, Mr John Kornblum, met Serbian opposition leaders in Geneva and issued a stern message to Mr Milosevic.
"We believe it is now essential for Mr Milosevic to accept the results of the election and open himself to continuing the democratic process with all democratic forces in the country and particularly to allow much greater freedom of the media," the US envoy said.
Mr Kornblum noted that Washington had not restored normal diplomatic or economic relations with Serbia and had maintained an "outer wall of sanctions" against Belgrade.
"What we are saying now is as far as the United States is concerned, there is no normalisation with Serbia - no trade, no investment - which are all very important things.
"Secondly, we will continue our support of the democratic processes there and expect that (the same) of Milosevic realty as the price for any further movement in relations," he added.
The opposition was adamant that its support was rock solid and that street protests would continue today.
The Zajedno leader, Mr Zoran Djindjic, said Mr Milosevic must reverse the alleged fraud at November's local elections which enabled the ruling socialists to claim victory over Zajedno in 14 out of Serbia's 18 biggest towns and cities, including Belgrade.
"Our protests will last until Serbia becomes a legal state," Mr Djindjic said.
The Nis district court upheld Zajedno's appeal and ordered the city election commission effectively to endorse the opposition victory, the local Zajedno leader, Mr Zoran Zivkovic, said.
"This shows that we might be after all on the road to justice," a Zajedno spokesman said.
A student spokesman said the intention of the student torchlit procession was "to enlighten a city in political darkness". The students were cheered along the route.
"There is a terrific uproar, everything that can burn is burning, candles, lanterns, flashlights ... 10 or more drums beating the samba," a reporter said.
Mr Milosevic has remained largely silent about the protests, apart from inviting a team of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to look into the matter.