In a famous speech in April 1987, he told a crowd of angry Serbs outside Pristina - who were protesting against alleged harassment by the majority Albanian community - that no-one would ever be allowed to beat them. His speech attracted huge public support, and became a rallying cry for Serbs in all parts of Yugoslavia.

He also used it as a springboard to change his image from a colourless Communist apparatchik into a firebrand of Serbian nationalism. By lifting the lid on the long-standing taboo of national and ethnic rivalries, he reinvented himself as a charismatic leader of the Serbs.