THE SERBIAN President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, seemed last night to have prepared the way for a possible climb down that would recognise an opposition victory in the capital, Belgrade.
The Belgrade Electoral Commission asked the Supreme Court to review the annulment of an opposition victory in the capital. The court was due to issue a ruling within 48 hours and the commission said the public prosecutor was asked to start an investigation.
Earlier, for the 18th night running, demonstrators thronged Terazije Square in Belgrade despite the offers of cheaper electricity for all, despite President Slobodan Milosevic's promise to pay overdue pensions and student grants, and despite a last minute reinstatement of the banned independent radio station, B-92.
Even a purge of officials most closely linked with the annulment of the elections could not keep the people off the streets yesterday.
The groups of students, some accompanied by their professors, the parents munching popcorn with their children, the young and the old, were united in their outlook. In the early days they wanted the election results reinstated. On Wednesday night, when almost 200,000 turned out, the theme was press freedom and the demand that B 92 be allowed to broadcast again.
It seemed that nothing but the resignation of President Milosevic would satisfy the demonstrators, who were in genial, good hearted, but absolutely determined mood.
"Resign Resign" read the posters in the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets which alternate in Belgrade. It seemed that the president - like so many politicians before him - had fallen into the trap of conceding too little, too late.
Once again the crowd numbered in its tens of thousands. The atmosphere verged on the jovial. There was not the slightest hint of fear that the desperate authorities might resort to force in an effort to thwart a popular movement which, in Belgrade, at least, has gained an unstoppable momentum.
At present, at least, Mr Milosevic has resorted to the carrot rather than the stick. Pension and grant payments and cheaper, electricity have been combined with a pledge to the United States that violence will not be used against the demonstrators.
But more than 30 students have already been arrested and the opposition leader, Mr Zoran Djindjic, wants to join them. "Milosevic can either resign or arrest us all. Either way we will be the winners," he said.
Mr Milosevic now finds himself opposed by students, intellectuals and professionals, including a large slice of the country's judiciary and the independent commission which ran the controversial elections.
But the absence of Yugoslav workers from the protests and the virtual absence of protests outside Belgrade and the city of Nis, has worried Mr Milosevic's opponents. Mr Miodrag Persic, a spokesman for the Zajedno (Together) coalition, which opposes Mr Milosevic, feels the protests will not succeed without support from workers. He said he was attempting to organise a series of strikes through the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to bring Mr Milosevic's presidency to an end.
Reuter adds from London: A top EU official said yesterday he was not convinced Bosnian authorities would comply with peace terms and the international community must compel them to do so by "whatever means".
The EU External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Hans van den Broek, in hinting at the use of force, appeared to go beyond what was contained in a draft final document on a two day peace conference which ended in London last night.
That document told Bosnia's ethnic leaders they must fully implement the year old Dayton peace pact and issue arrest warrants for war criminals or forfeit, western aid, but stopped short of calling for force to be used.
Mr Van den Broek said he had not been convinced by the promises of Bosnian leaders at the conference that they were willing to comply with the Dayton accord.
