Protests

During a half-time of a highly-watched basketball match between Yugoslavia and Germany on 1st of July 1999, spectators of the local state-owned "TV Leskovac" were shocked when TV technician of that TV station surprisingly and unexpectedly appeared on the screens of their TV sets.

In his five-minute speech to his fellow-citizens, obviously nervous, Mr. Ivan Novkovic broadcasted previously recorded video cassette, stating his strong disapproval with politics of, than in-power, local regime and, indirectly, the national regime.
This act was a strong precedent for that time, for several reasons:

• TV Leskovac was state-owned and operating solely under instructions and for interest of local and state regimes, who, in that time, fully controlled the flow of information in Leskovac. In this, "TV Leskovac" was than, a local, even more radical, clone of the national Radio Television of Serbia, than called a "TV Bastille".

• Leskovac was in that time labeled as the "red city" by other citizens of Serbia, so no one expected any action from citizens of Leskovac directed against the state and local regimes.

• The verbal strike was not only the strike against local regime, but also attack against the head of the state and his regime, for the first time done in that unique manner, trough their media.

During his address to fellow citizens, Novkovic called upon those who agree with him, to gather four days later in center of Leskovac. This was the first and the last occurrence in Serbia when regime-directed media was used to schedule a protest against that same regime.

Four days later, on July 5, 1999, domestic and foreign media estimated 20 000 citizens of Leskovac (urban area of Leskovac is inhabited by ~80 000 citizens) responded to this invitation, gathering into massive and determined force, demonstrating their discontent of overall political and economic situation in the country and their discontent with their political representatives in local government and those in the national one.

But that wasn't the end of the protests. After Novkovic and many other leaders of the protest movement have been, shortly after that day, arrested and sentenced for their acts of defiance towards the regime, protest continued to go on for 43 days more, under the leadership of Mr. Goran Mitrovic, current Managing board president of the People's Parliament.

Finally, after the 44th day of the protests people who directly participated in them, founded NGO "People's Parliament", on August 15 1999.

From that moment up to the time of the democratic changes in the country (October 5th, 2000), People's Parliament practically operated as a local movement gathering hundreds of citizens advocating for local and national regime change, and strongly working in that direction.

When democratic changes eventually happened, on October 5th 2000, responding to new circumstances when there was no need for organization to function as anti-regime movement anymore, People's Parliament was restructured to non-profit and non-governmental organization with clearly defined goals and objectives for future activities.

Due to organization's engagement in the process of democratic changes in Serbia during 1999 and 2000, People's Parliament received, besides numerous recognitions from organizations, institutions and media from the country and abroad, a plaque and a bronze fist statute from People's movement "Otpor". This was the most prominent recognition that any anti-regime organization could receive in that time. The text on the plaque says: "to the most-resistant city in Serbia during 1999".
People gathered around People's Parliament have made city of Leskovac to be the most-resistant city in Serbia, during 1999 and 2000.