European press condemns Belgrade crackdown

Riot police confront protesters in Belgrade

European newspapers have delivered a hostile verdict over Belgrade's crackdown on Serbia's Studio B television and its radio associate B2-92.

The Swiss LE TEMPS describes it as: "A declaration of war on the opposition".

It points out: "This massive onslaught... comes after long months of harassment by the police and the courts".

The paper wonders whether Moscow's recently reiterated support has led Slobodan Milosevic to feel shielded from domestic and international pressures.

a declaration of war on the opposition

LE TEMPS

Calling the crackdown: "A severe blow to the Serbian opposition", the Austrian DIE PRESSE describes how police units raided the premises of Studio B television in the early hours of Wednesday.

The television was: "Renowned for its fierce criticism of the Milosevic regime", it explains.

Coup

"Serbian deputy prime ministers Vojislav Seselj and Milovan Bojic have justified the seizure by accusing the station of issuing calls for `a coup against the constitutional order'," the paper says.

Germany's FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU observes the crackdown has deprived the opposition of its voice.

It points out that: "Up to now the situation in Serbia has been strangely peaceful after four wars in the region" and warns: "This might change very soon".

Milosevic dictatorship 'in jeopardy'

EL MUNDO

The Madrid daily EL MUNDO sees the action against Studio B and Radio B2-92 as reflecting the fact that "Milosevic... sees his dictatorship in jeopardy and is responding with his customary brutality.

Emergency

The paper goes on to describe the situation in Serbia as a "veiled state of emergency in a country in decay... and a new factor of instability in the ever conflictive Balkans".

Spain's EL PAIS accused Mr Milosevic of "crossing the boundary between a veiled dictatorship and a naked one."