Their spirits high after a successful rally in the capital, Belgrade, key Yugoslav opposition leaders said yesterday the Serbs had shown they would settle for nothing less than the removal from office of President Slobodan Milosevic.
"There are two sides in Serbia today - the regime and the people," said Mr Zoran Djindjic, a key opponent of Mr Milosevic. "Everybody will soon have to take one of the sides."
Mr Djindjic, a leader of the umbrella group The Alliance for Change, spoke at a press conference a day after an estimated 150,000 people gathered at an opposition rally to demand Mr Milosevic's removal.
"The citizens of Serbia want the removal of Slobodan Milosevic and they do not want compromise or any deal with the government," said Mr Vladan Batic, another leader in the Alliance.
Serbia's opposition remains fractured over the way changes in the country should be brought about. The Alliance for Change and other groups are demanding the unconditional resignation of Mr Milosevic and the formation of a transitional government, while Mr Vuk Draskovic, another key leader, has agreed to an early election organised by Milosevic.
Last night's rally was the biggest outburst of popular anger against Mr Milosevic in years, but the state-run media he controls portrayed the gathering as a failure and as a disappointment to its allegedly "pro-NATO" organisers.
"Failed pro-NATO rally" was the headline in the government-run daily Politika above a story tucked away in the paper's midsection, while state-run television said that "one cannot say who is more disappointed, the organisers, the participants or the NATO bosses and mentors".
Chanting slogans against Mr Milosevic, the crowd roared in approval every time the opposition speakers called for his removal. When Mr Draskovic tried to outline his plan for early elections, he was jeered by the crowds. Encouraged by such a response, the Alliance for Change leaders reiterated yesterday that Mr Milosevic has until mid-September to step down or he will face another big rally in Belgrade followed by a wave of simultaneous protests throughout Serbia and a general strike.
Also by mid-September, the opposition parties expect to sign a deal on the formation of a transitional government and offer it to Mr Milosevic's ruling coalition to sign on. The pro-democracy leaders said Draskovic will have to join in or will fall along with Milosevic.
"We are hoping that after this rally all those who thought they could make a deal with Milosevic have realised they were wrong." The German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fisher, urged Yugoslavia's democratic opposition to work together if they want to topple Milosevic. He said the Belgrade protest, "confirmed before the eyes of the world their wish for democratic reforms and to return to the international community."
"All the democratic forces in Serbia must continue down the path they've started," he said. "The door to Europe is open for a democratic Serbia."
Belgrade students staged a mock celebration yesterday of Milosevic's birthday - his 58th. The Resistance, as the students' group calls itself, sang a song to Milosevic, lit candles on a huge cardboard cake and made a wish that Milosevic leave his post as soon as possible.
Some 50 people gathered to watch the performance, including the former chief of staff of the Yugoslav army, Gen Momcilo Perisic, who recently turned against Milosevic and pledged to work to oust him.
Milosevic's birthday cake was sliced into nine pieces representing territories of the former Yugoslavia which Milosevic lost in the four wars he fought during his decade in power. His plush Dedinje district in Belgrade - was represented in the middle of the "cake", symbolising his diminished stronghold.