Bulldozer Revolution

In October 2000 mass protests in Belgrade forced Slobodan Milosevic to accept electoral defeat and ended thirteen years of his rule over Yugoslavia.

Overview

Milosevic called early presidential elections for September 2000 expecting victory, but the united opposition behind Vojislav Kostunica claimed a first-round win confirmed by parallel vote counts. When the regime tried to force a runoff, hundreds of thousands streamed into Belgrade on 5 October. Farmers and miners drove in on tractors, protesters pushed past police lines, and part of the parliament building was set alight as the constitutional court voided the election. That evening Milosevic conceded. The Otpor student movement, trained in nonviolent methods, and years of electoral organizing lay behind the success. Milosevic was extradited to The Hague in 2001, and the Bulldozer Revolution became the template for the color revolutions.