The opposition leader, Dr Vojislav Kostunica, stood before a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Belgrade yesterday and declared Serbia liberated from President Slobodan Milosevic.
"Dear liberated Serbia," Dr Kostunica told the crowd after his supporters stormed the federal parliament and state television.
"We are living the last twitches of Milosevic's regime. Democracy has happened in Serbia. Communism is falling. It is just a matter of hours," he added.
He also said Mr Milosevic had "fled".
"We are not going to Dedinje," the luxurious district of Belgrade where Milosevic's residency is, Dr Kostunica said.
"He has fled from there, and we are staying here where the people's institutions are."
Dr Kostunica called on world leaders to lift sanctions, saying that his "message to the world is down with sanctions".
"What we are doing today is history, but history is created by these people," he said.
But he added: "We do not need Moscow and Washington, we are ready to liberate Serbia by ourselves."
He called on protesters to remain in the streets.
"We are staying here till the very end and I am staying with you."
Dr Kostunica also issued a call for "peace" among citizens of Serbia, Serbia and the world, and between Serbia and its junior partner Montenegro.
"I am proud I was elected President of Yugoslavia," he said, referring to the presidential polls of September 24th, which the opposition says he won outright.
The refusal by the country's electoral authorities to recognise his outright victory and to call for a second run-off round prompted almost two weeks of protests that culminated with yesterday's mass protest in Belgrade, the biggest yet seen in the country.
Dr Kostunica reiterated that there would be no second round of voting, as called for by the government-controlled election commission.
"Serbia is running a victory lap at this moment and on that track there is no Slobodan Milosevic," he said.
"Serbia has hit the road of democracy, and where there is democracy there is no place for Slobodan Milosevic," he said, as the crowd shouted "Arrest Milosevic"
However, Dr Kostunica said Mr Milosevic "has placed himself under arrest a long time ago".
"He does not live with his people, he does not know what freedom is," Dr Kostunica said.
He called for calm and peace, insisting that "our victory will be defended, to any violence we will answer with no violence, with will answer lies with the truth."
"We will defend our victory with our weapons and our weapon is not violence," Dr Kostunica said.
Belgrade-born Vojislav Kostunica (56) is married with no children and keeps a low private profile. People close to him say he likes cats and dogs and supports Red Star Belgrade soccer team.
He and his wife, Zorica, hold doctorates in law sciences and have a modest social life.
A former assistant law professor, he is an expert in constitutional law and has published books on the subject.
He was sacked in 1974 after opposing a new Yugoslav constitution. In 1989, he turned down an offer to return to the university.
In 1989, he was one of the founders of the opposition Democratic Party. He left it in 1992 to form the Democratic Party of Serbia and continued his work in the field of human rights and civil liberties.
Dr Kostunica has promised to create a state in which all citizens, Serbs or others, enjoy equal status and civil rights.
His nationalism, unlike Mr Milosevic's, is seen as moderate and unthreatening to other nations in the region. His devotion to democracy is considered beyond serious doubt.
"I would describe myself as a normal Serb," he once said.
Dr Kostunica's support came not only from the Serbian political scene and influential intellectuals, but also from farmers, students and workers. His trips to various villages and towns often turned into impromptu rallies, with hundreds carefully listening to his brief speeches, sometimes held in churchyards or markets.