"I have to say that the level of weapons we possessed was not God knows what, but it was not naive at all," said Nebojša Čović, the former leader of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) in the documentary film Final showdown Movie time, shown on Radio and Television of Serbia on Tuesday, October 5. Other interlocutors from this film confirm that there were weapons among the DOS supporters. The former commander of the Belgrade Corps of the Yugoslav Army, General Božidar Delić, says that the operatives informed him that in the column of demonstrators from Čačak, in addition to one recoilless cannon, there were also anti-armor hand launchers. The leader of DOS, Velimir Ilić, who led this column, confirms this: "I saw with my own eyes a 'zolje' in a 'ladi niva'."
Does all this mean that DOS also had its "military wing"? And, if so, who made it and how was it organized? That is, was Serbia on the threshold of civil war?
After the NATO intervention, the regime of Slobodan Milosevic was increasingly authoritarian and brutal. This was not only reflected in the persecution of independent media, non-governmental organizations and, especially, Otpor activists. During that period, the regime openly resorted to violence: Vuk Drašković, the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, survived assassination twice by a mere miracle, and in August 2000, Ivan Stambolić, the former president of Serbia, was kidnapped and killed. Behind these crimes was the Department of State Security of the MUP of Serbia. Specifically - a group of members of the Special Operations Unit (JSO), headed by Milorad Ulemek Legija. The public and the opposition at the time were well aware that Milosevic was ready to do anything to stay in power. The fear of arrest, beatings and ordered liquidations was universal and almost palpable.
In this context, the personal security of certain DOS leaders has grown. Čović says that there were several dozen people around him and Zoran Đinđić at certain moments, and that he believes that none of the opposition champions was without this form of protection. It should be added that the DOS organized many forms of civil disobedience - roadblocks, strikes and the like. As the political tension reached a boiling point, a certain number of the most radical participants in these actions were ready to respond to violence with violence. Finally, the DOS leaders themselves concluded at a meeting held on September 26, 2000 that they would actively defend themselves if the regime used force.
DOS did not procure weapons in an organized manner. However, after all the wars during the nineties, Serbia was full of long and short pipes. Getting to them was not difficult, especially not for members of the DOS leader's security - people many of whom had war experience. Activists of opposition parties and ordinary citizens did not lag behind either. Some of them armed themselves out of fear, others brought weapons like football fans carry metal rods and knives, others because of existential hopelessness, others because in this way they ensured a sense of community...
Like weapons, there were many motives. Although some of the armed men were in tighter or looser squads, there was little organization in it all. On October 5, DOS leaders were able to influence their security forces, and their members on certain occasions, more radical groups of demonstrators. Everything else was the elements. In this whole series of spontaneous actions and actions, it is extremely fortunate that all those weapons were not used and that no blood was spilled. Reason apparently prevailed over the chaos of the Fifth of October. And that both among the demonstrators and - even more so - among the members of the police and the army. The latter, like the vast majority of citizens, had had enough of Milošević and his regime.
When the DOS leaders came to power, they neither confirmed nor denied various rumors about weapons and groups of armed supporters. In this way, they presented themselves as more important, and their activities on the 5th of October more systematic and determined. In the end, everything became a myth and the memory of a man in Pionirski Park with a pipe sticking out from under his coat Kalashnikov...
