Riot Police Injure Protesters in Capital

Several people were hurt, one of them seriously, when riot police in Belgrade beat protesters angry over the annulment of local elections, independent media reported. The opposition insists that its Nov. 17 victories be honored by the government of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. But in the latest blow to opposition hopes, Serbia’s Supreme Court said that Milosevic’s Socialists won Smederevska Palanka, a town 40 miles southeast of Belgrade, the capital of both Yugoslavia and Serbia. The ruling was the second favoring the Socialists in two days and dimmed chances that Milosevic is ready to give up Belgrade. Ending weeks of relative restraint during 64 consecutive days of protests, police waded into crowds Monday evening swinging batons and beating demonstrators in at least three Belgrade neighborhoods, an independent radio station reported.