The mass protests started in February 1986, with several meetings of Kosovo Serbs in
Belgrade and in Kosovo, pleading for a resolution of the problematic situation on Kosovo. These were relatively small, with 100–5,000 participants, and were mostly reactions to individual inter-ethnic incidents. The largest such protest was held in
Kosovo Polje in April 1987, gathering around 20,000 people. However, the outburst of protests began in the latter half of 1988. In June, the protest of workers of the
Zmaj factory gathered 5,000 protestors; in July, meetings were held in seven towns with tens of thousands protesters, and in August in ten towns with 80,000 people. By September they spread to 39 towns with over 400,000 people.
Vojvodina (October 1988) On 5 October 1988, around 150,000 people gathered in
Novi Sad to protest against the Vojvodina provincial government. The gathering started a day earlier in the nearby town of
Bačka Palanka, and, as
Politika explained it, people spontaneously gathered and moved on to Novi Sad, the provincial capital. The protest in Bačka Palanka was led by
Mihalj Kertes, a mid-level official of the Communist Party, an ethnic
Hungarian who would later become famous for his remark "How can you Serbs be afraid of Serbia when I, a Hungarian, am not afraid of Serbia?". The provincial leadership, led by
Milovan Šogorov,
Boško Krunić and
Živan Berisavljević, were caught by surprise. Before the event, they tried to compromise and negotiate with Milošević, expressing cautious support for the constitutional changes while trying to keep their and Vojvodina's position intact. However, the avalanche of media campaign orchestrated from Belgrade was about to overwhelm them; they were labelled as power-hungry "armchairers" (фотељаши /
foteljaši) and "autonomists" (аутономаши /
autonomaši). The Vojvodina government then cut off power and water supply to protesters, a move which enraged them further still, and caused even more people from Novi Sad and its vicinity to join. When power was restored, they tried a different tactic: in order to cheer the demonstrators up, they gave them bread and
yogurt. However, thousands of yogurt packages were soon thrown at the Parliament building by angry protesters. Thus, the protests are sometimes referred to as the "Yogurt Revolution". On 6 October, the entire collective leadership of Vojvodina resigned and were soon replaced with
Nedeljko Šipovac, Radovan Pankov and
Radoman Božović. The Vojvodina representative in the Central Committee of
SKJ, Boško Krunić, resigned and was replaced by
Stanko Radmilović, while the President of the Central Committee of the
SKV, Milovan Šogorov, resigned and was replaced by Bogosav Kovačević.
Ušće rally (November 1988) The rally in
Belgrade, at
Ušće (the large field at confluence of
Sava River into
Danube) was held on 19 November 1988. According to the state press, it gathered about a million people, and according to others, several hundred thousands. It was conceived as a "mother of all rallies", and a huge crowd of people come from all parts of Serbia by public and factory buses taken just for this opportunity. Milošević reaffirmed his and Serbia's commitment to the principles of liberty and Serbian equality within Yugoslavia: We will win the battle for
Kosovo regardless of the obstacles placed in front of us in the country and abroad. So, we will win regardless of the uniting of our enemies from abroad and those in the country. And that this nation will win the battle for freedom, is a fact well-known even to the
Turkish and
German conquerors.
Montenegro (January 1989) Rallies and media were also similarly used in Montenegro with the first rally in support of Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Montenegrins taking place in
Titograd on 20 August 1988. The leadership of the
Montenegrin Communist League was on the defense at the time, claiming that it was protecting Kosovo, but their restraint in direct support for Milošević was deemed not good enough by the protesters. What eventually proved to be the revolution's first act occurred on 7 October 1988 when Montenegrin police intervened against protesters in Žuta Greda demanding resignations from the Montenegrin leadership. In order to deal with the situation the leadership proclaimed the
state of emergency. The state of emergency did not last long, as it was taken as an act of hostility towards Serbia by media outlets controlled by Milošević as well as Milošević's supporters in Montenegro. The second act started with joint rallies consisting of workers from Radoje Dakić, a state-owned factory, and
Veljko Vlahović University students. On 10 January 1989, over 10,000 protesters gathered in
Titograd. Other controversial amendments allowed the Constitutional Court of Serbia to intervene in constitutional courts of the autonomous provinces before proceedings had concluded in those courts. On 28 March the Serbian parliament approved the constitutional changes.
Gazimestan rally (June 1989) The largest rally of all was held at
Gazimestan on 28 June 1989, gathering two million according to
Politika.
Failed Ljubljana rally (December 1989) When a "Rally of Truth" () was announced to be held in
Ljubljana,
SR Slovenia on 1 December 1989, thousands of Milošević supporters who attended street protests around Yugoslavia were planned to arrive to Slovenia's capital. However, in an operation named "Action North" () Slovene police forces prevented it with the help of Croatian police forces, by preventing trains with Milošević supporters pass through Croatia in order to reach Slovenia. This action can be considered the first Slovenian defense action against the attacks of the supporters of Milošević, which later led to Slovenia's independence after the
Ten-Day War. ==Aftermath==