Department of State Inr Briefing Note- June 12, 1968

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
INR BRIEFING NOTE	GIST: Serb Government Moves Against Subversive Student Propaganda → Student Demonstrations Apparently Contained
TO:
The Director, INR	DATE: 6/6/68
TIME: 4:30 pm	COMMENTS CONTAINED IN INR BRIEFING
NOTES ARE INITIAL AND TENTATIVE.
SOURCE(S)
Radio Belgrade, 5 Jun 1968
(FBIS, 38, 6 June 1968)	CLASS./CONTROL(S)
UNCLASS

Radio Belgrade Reported on June 5 that the Deputy Public Prosecutor of Belgrade City has sent a request to the Internal Affairs Secretariat (of Serbia, presumably) for collection of leaflets which have been distributed by persons unknown and which contain false statements and assertions aimed at causing depression and anxiety among citizens and endangering public peace and order. The Deputy Public Prosecutor's statement cites the need to discover and confiscate this literature, as well as the machines and other means by which they were printed. It also directs that information on all persons engaged in printing, writing, and distributing these pamphlets should be reported.

## I.

Though its contents and possible origin are not mentioned, the propaganda is very likely the work of the extreme elements of the demonstrating Belgrade University students, whose slogans (e.g., "Down with the Red bourgeoisie") appear to go beyond the demands made by the ad hoc "Student Action Committee" in its 6-hour meeting on June 4 with the Serbian Executive Committee (cabinet), which were acceptable to the authorities. The move by the Belgrade Prosecutor appears the latest in the regime's "carrot and stick" reaction. After cracking down hard on the demonstrators on June 2 and 3 (who refused to let Belgrade Party boss Voljko Vlahovic finish his speech to them), some students that were arrested were immediately released. On the morning of June 4 the Seah Internal Affairs Secretariat banned all types of gatherings in public places of Belgrade, the University Council closed down the school for seven days following a talk with the Mayor of Belgrade. This evidently left the students free to "politick" on university grounds, within which they have taken over buildings, hold meetings and rallies, bring up slogans. The campus was cordoned off by police forces. On the same day the Yugoslav Executive Committee and also the Serb government and Party top bodies agreed in principle to the "realistic" demands of the "Student Action Committee" — most of which the regime leadership had discussed and proposed earlier but had been slow about taking action.

Among the acceptable demands proposed were: elimination of graduate unemployment; improvement of students' material conditions and construction of student lodgings and cafeterias; creation of a government-university commission to increase student rights and self-government in the university; and "democratization" of the social structure. Not coming under consideration apparently were demands being bruited about that smacked of anti-regime overtones: two-party system, dismissal of the Federal, Serb, and Belgrade internal affairs chiefs, and dissolution of the Federal, Serb, and Belgrade assemblies.

The regime at the same time condemned the resort to violence and warned that departure from the general Party line and any struggle against the political system would not be tolerated. The regime has been able to evoke support for this line --- support of student "realistic" demands while condemning and warning against violence --- from workers in a

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DocId:33061196 Page 108 (Classification)