Day Two: Demonstrators, Debates

A woman holds up a religious image during Saturday's anti-NATO rally at Lafayette Square near the White House. (By Craig Cola — washingtonpost.com) Related Links Text of Clinton's Speech NATO Protesters Fill Park Complete Summit Coverage Summit Photos: Day 1 | Day 2 Map of Street Closings

By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 25, 1999; Page C1

Thousands of Serbian Americans from across the country traveled to Washington by chartered bus, plane and automobile yesterday and staged the largest anti-NATO demonstration held in the city since the alliance began bombing Yugoslavia a month ago.

Protesters from more than a dozen states arrived on more than 50 chartered buses and joined the local Serbian community in Washington for a colorful and sometimes chaotic day-long rally in Lafayette Square intended to send a noisy message of defiance to NATO leaders meeting for a second day in the city.

The demonstration, marked by whistles and sirens used to simulate the air raid signals in Yugoslavia, was loud but orderly, and police reported no arrests. But there was a tense moment in the afternoon when columns of protesters marched past the Hay-Adams Hotel as a motorcade deposited the Azerbaijani president there for a meeting with the Norwegian prime minister.

Spotting the motorcade and the NATO flag flying on the hotel, the demonstrators pressed forward, shouting "NATO Nazis!" and other slogans. Police quickly summoned extra cruisers and officers in riot gear to block them. For a few uncertain minutes, the crowd massed in front of the police with some members taunting the officers.

"Government puppets! All of you are brainwashed," shouted one. "Let us through! Let us through!" cried another.

But most demonstrators simply waved flags and signs and chanted pro-Serbia slogans. Eventually, protest organizers convinced the crowd to return to the park. As mounted officers arrived, one member of the crowd with a bullhorn sang to them: "We love the Washington police, we do!"

"This is still considered tame," said D.C. police officer E.D. Creamer, a member of the civil disturbance unit. "There were no bottles, no rocks. We just had to get them in some kind of order. It went well."

Protest organizers said more than 8,000 people participated, representing several generations of Serbian Americans. Neither D.C. police nor U.S. Park Police make official crowd estimates, but officers working the detail said they thought the crowd numbered about 4,000.

In any case, it was the largest anti-NATO rally in the city yet, said the Rev. Miroslav Lazarevich, pastor of St. Luke Serbian Orthodox Church in Northwest Washington.

"NATO is trying to demonize Serbia, and they cannot do that without demonizing Serbian Americans," said Lazarevich, whose parish includes about 400 Serbian families. "Those are our brothers, sisters, children they are bombing over there."

While some of his classmates were working as volunteers at the NATO summit, George Washington University student Neno Djordjevic, 18, helped manage the protest against the alliance's 50th anniversary gathering.

"There are plenty of innocent young people who are dying because of the people in the limousines driving around town and having a great time this weekend," said Djordjevic, who has several relatives in Serbia. "It's just sad. It's a beautiful day here, but in Serbia, NATO uses beautiful weather as an excuse to bomb and kill."

Yesterday's demonstration got off to a rocky start in the morning when the Maryland company hired to provide a sound system failed to deliver the equipment. Natalie Djurickovic, one of the organizers, said employees showed up with the speakers but left after deciding "they didn't want anything to do with us."

But Harry Cimermanis, owner of of Audio Event Services, said he left Lafayette Square without delivering the equipment because he could not find the person who had placed the order.

Eventually, U.S. Park Police helped the protesters get another speaker system and the event began with a prayer service led by Metropolitan Christopher, presiding bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America. A choir sang several hymns, including "Memory Eternal" for those killed in Yugoslavia.

The crowd then released hundreds of black balloons. "Happy birthday, NATO. Happy birthday," Jordan Tasich, 19, of Detroit, said sarcastically as he watched them float in the blue sky and over the White House. Shoe boxes were passed around to collect funds for Serbian refugees.

But anger and frustration soon overtook the solemn moment. Demonstrators, many of them wearing bull's-eyes on their shirts like compatriots in Belgrade and other Yugoslav cities, waved photographs of bombed buildings and hospitalized children and chanted: "Hey, hey, USA, how many kids you kill today?"

Some protesters wore masks made of American flags. Others wore Serbian flags as capes. Sasha Petrovic, 21, of Chicago, who said his parents and younger brother are in Serbia, put finishing touches on a mock casket scrawled with names of U.S. and NATO leaders -- then paraded it around the park.

"I'm very worried about them," he said. "I worry about the whole world keeping its mouth shut while this is going on."

In the afternoon, the protesters marched up 15th Street NW, then back to the park. Lad Branovic, 29, a computer programmer from Saddle Brook, N.J., helped stick fliers on cars and police cruisers parked nearby.

Tanja Gavrilovic, 24, of Cleveland, said she is angry NATO is interfering in an internal crisis. "If I were to die, I'd rather die fighting for a noble cause," she said. "For Serbia . . . this is my cause."

Maria Zigic, 37, of Milwaukee, rode a bus for 18 hours. "I was considering not paying my taxes because I didn't want my money to buy bombs used to kill my people," she said. "NATO should be ashamed of itself."

Construction workers Zoran Milkovic, 32, and Zeljko Magdic, 22, both of New York City, wore T-shirts with the image of a Serbian nationalist hero. "This is their last meeting," Milkovic said of the NATO summit. "We'll destroy them."