Serb police break up protest

Tear gas was fired at the protesters

Police have broken up a demonstration in Belgrade for the second day running.

Our correspondent said the police fired tear gas into a crowd of several thousand who fled in panic in all directions.

The protesters were demonstrating against the government takeover of opposition television and radio stations.

Reporting from the scene Nick Thorpe said: "It's not quite clear yet what started the incident, but outside the building there are large numbers of riot police charging in all directions. It's not clear at this stage whether there are many injuries."

Earlier, one of the leaders of the Serbian opposition alliance, Zoran Djindjic, said resistance to the government's takeover of opposition television and radio stations will be stepped up.

He said the Alliance for Change would call daily protests from Thursday in the capital, Belgrade, and other major towns as part of a wave of civil disobedience against President Slobodan Milosevic.

Only a state which is terrified of the truth resorts to sending men in masks into television and radio studios

EU external affairs commissioner Chris Patten

Mr Djindjic was speaking after some 30,000 people marched in Belgrade on Wednesday to protest against the closure of Studio B television station.

The crackdown on the independent media has sparked international condemnation.

"Only a state which is terrified of the truth resorts to sending men in masks into television and radio studios," said European Union external affairs commissioner Chris Patten.

Wedensday'sclashes were violent

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is to urge Russia, Serbia's traditional ally, to use its influence to try and rectify the situation.

An opposition radio station, Radio Pancevo, had one of its transmitters cut while broadcasting the rally.

The call to protest came within hours of Wednesday's dawn raid on Studio B in Belgrade.

Police also seized control of three other independent media outlets housed in the same building - radio broadcaster B2-92, Index Radio and the privately-owned daily paper, Blic.

Opposition protests were also reported in three other Serbian cities on Wednesday.

Studio B chief editor Dragan Kojadinovic called the raid an attack on the people

Some 15,000 people protested against the government in Kragujevac in central Serbia, while several hundred came out onto the streets in Novi Sad, and a few hundred in Mladenovac, south of Belgrade, where Studio B's local bureau was also seized by the authorities.

Studio B began broadcasting government-controlled news later on Wednesday. The associated independent radio channel, B2-92, said it was now concentrating on its internet service.

Wednesday's raid followed increasing harassment of opposition activists.

Members of the radical student movement Otpor were detained by police in several towns after the authorities denounced the group as a "terrorist" organisation.