On Wednesday, the Yugoslav United Left (JUL) supported Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's move to recognise opposition wins in 14 Serbian cities, by a 'special law', and called on the opposition to discontinue their protests.

Aleksandar Vulin, spokesman for the JUL, said he could not understand the fuss that was being made over President Milosevic's initiative, as Mr. Milosevic had said from the very beginning that the crisis would be solved through state institutions.

Mr. Vulin warned that if the protests did not stop that would be proof that the opposition's true aim was to topple the government.

He said that if the demonstrations continued then provision had been made by law to ban them and expressed his regret that "the state had not yet found enough internal courage to respect its own laws."

Mr. Vulin then saluted the police for the way they had handled 70 days of protest, and said they had used the minimum of violence. Mr. Vulin said also that police intervention on Brankov Bridge during the night of February 2nd had been justifed, adding that "they are complaining because police used water cannons in -10^oC. Are you going to tell me that they should use hot water?".

Responding to accusations that the police had violated the autonomy of the University by entering the Faculty of Philosophy on Sunday, Mr. Vulin said that the "University must realize it is not a foreign embassy and that you do not need a passport to enter it.

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