Thousands of protesters jeered and hurled insults at President Milan Milutinovic of Serbia yesterday in the southern town of Nis as he reopened a bridge damaged by NATO air strikes.
About 6,000 supporters of the Alliance for Change opposition grouping gathered in central Nis, confronting 2,000 followers of the ruling Socialist Party (SPS).
After Mr Milutinovic left, riot police beat about 10 protesters when a group gathered in the street along which buses transporting SPS supporters were to pass on their way back to the town of Leskovac, eyewitnesses said.
Earlier Mr Milutinovic warned the opposition parties, which have organised daily protests against President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia since September 21st, that "all those who want to set a powder keg on fire in the Balkans will have an opponent". Before his speech, he reopened the bridge across the Nisava river in Nis, which is an opposition stronghold.
Meanwhile, Serbian opposition parties have settled their differences over how to hold fair elections in which they hope to oust Mr Milosevic.
Representatives of the Alliance for Change and the other main opposition grouping, the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), signed a deal in Belgrade yesterday on the conditions for elections. The joint document includes conditions on a proportional voting system, the revision of election lists, the presence of domestic and foreign observers and a free media.
In another sign of opposition unity, the parties have agreed on a joint statement to the EU in which they suggest that elections be held by early 2000.