15. 05. 2004

TV Smederevo transmitter disabled

SMEDEREVO, May 15, 2004 – Local television in Smederevo has not broadcast since Friday night, when the station’s transmitter was disabled. Staff at the company have been on strike for fifty days in protest at a decision by the Municipal Assembly to replace the acting director. They claim that the local government, led by the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Socialist Party of Serbia has attempted to break the strike by cutting transmission. B92 Smederevo correspondent Jelena Ilic reports that on Friday the new acting director succeeded, for the first time since his appointment, in entering the television premises with police assistance. However, the striking staff prevented him from taking office. Members of the Administrative Board failed to enter the premises. A second attempt by the acting director and board members to enter the building was blocked by a group of about fifty local residents. Police did not intervene. New acting director Dragan Kosovac told B92 that he had no information about who had decided to disable the station’s transmitter.