Novi Sad – Beginning of the Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution, 1988

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Supporters of Slobodan Milošević traveled from city to city, carrying banners and slogans. Like many other photojournalists, reporters, and cameramen, I followed them and documented their gatherings. Over time, I began to recognize many familiar faces — organized groups arriving from Kosovo, Montenegro, and numerous cities across Serbia. In their organization and logistics, they resembled what would decades later be known as “sandwich protesters,” although the term did not exist at the time.

The photograph shows a large “spontaneous” rally in Novi Sad. At the podium stands Branko Kertes, while a man behind him can be heard whispering: “Say that you are Hungarian and that you are not afraid of Serbs.”
This event marked the beginning of the so-called anti-bureaucratic, or yogurt revolution — a term used to describe a broader political movement opposing the bureaucratic and centralist power structures of Yugoslavia at the time.