Coup Atlas Research Database
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34010072000SuccessfulForced resignation

Serbia, 2000 — forced resignation

Serbia (SRB)Southern Europe, EuropeOctober 7, 2000

Event Summary

In early October 2000 Slobodan Milosevic was driven from power in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after refusing to accept defeat in the 24 September presidential election won by opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica. The regime's election commission claimed Kostunica had fallen just short of a first round majority and called a runoff, prompting the Democratic Opposition of Serbia and the youth movement Otpor to organize strikes and mass protests. A strike at the Kolubara coal mines from 29 September paralyzed the country, and on 5 October several hundred thousand people converged on Belgrade, stormed the federal parliament, and set the state broadcaster ablaze after a heavy equipment operator rammed the building, giving the events the popular name the Bulldozer Revolution.

Police did not mount a large crackdown and many joined the crowds. Milosevic conceded on 6 October and Kostunica was inaugurated on 7 October. Milosevic did not leave the country; he remained in Serbia until Serbian police arrested him in Belgrade on 1 April 2001, and he was transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague in June 2001, where he died in custody in 2006.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Slobodan Milosevic, forced to concede and leave office; remained in Serbia until his 2001 arrest and transfer to The Hague
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Slobodan Milosevic (president forced from power)
Vojislav Kostunica (opposition winner, inaugurated president)
Zoran Djindjic (opposition coalition leader)
Ljubisav Djokic (the loader operator who charged the state TV building)

Sources

The overthrow of Milosevic began after the 24 September 2000 general election and culminated on 5 October 2000, when several hundred thousand protesters converged on Belgrade, the parliament was partially burned, and a wheel loader operator rammed the state broadcaster building, giving the events their popular name.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic open source ↗
The Global Nonviolent Action Database records that Milosevic announced his resignation on the night of the 5 October protests and Kostunica was instated as Yugoslav president on 7 October 2000, following the strike at the Kolubara coal mine and the mass march on Belgrade.
SOURCE REVIEWED Global Nonviolent Action Database (Swarthmore) open source ↗
Milosevic lost the September 2000 election to Kostunica, refused to accept the result, and conceded the day after the 5 October march on Belgrade, with Kostunica sworn in backed by the opposition coalition.
SOURCE REVIEWED Cambodianess (Agence France Presse) open source ↗
After the December 2000 parliamentary elections gave the Democratic Opposition of Serbia a two thirds majority, Milosevic was detained by Serbian police on 1 April 2001 and later transferred to The Hague to be prosecuted by the ICTY.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic open source ↗

Editorial Note

FATE DISCREPANCY: the dataset codes the fate as fled the country, but Milosevic did not flee; he conceded on 6 October and remained in Serbia until his arrest in Belgrade on 1 April 2001 and transfer to The Hague in June 2001, dying there in 2006. Flagged rather than repeated in the summary. Coded as a forced resignation on 10-07, matching Kostunica's inauguration; the concession was 10-06 and the decisive protest 10-05. This is the same fate coding pattern as Suharto 1998 in batch 47.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
34010072000

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Slobodan Milosevic, forced to concede and leave office; remained in Serbia until his 2001 arrest and transfer to The Hague.

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; fled the country. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Wikipedia

New York Times

“Milosevic Pledges Harsh Crackdown on Strike Leaders,” by Steven Erlanger, October 4, 2000
“Belgrade Court Annuls Vote that was Milosevic Setback,” by Steven Erlanger, October 5, 2000
“Yugoslavs Claim Belgrade for a new Leader,” by Steven Erlanger, October 6, 2000
“Milosevic Concedes his Defeat; Yugoslavs Celebrate New Era,” by Steven Erlanger, October 7, 2000

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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