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Encouraged by cheering crowds, a convoy of 70 trucks in Cacak blocked 
a key highway early Monday as opposition forces sought to gather support 
for a nationwide strike aimed at showing President Slobodan Milosevic 
he must relinquish power. Road blockades snarled traffic on at least 
one bridge in the capital, Belgrade, and roads just outside the city, 
independent radio station B2-92 reported. And in the southwestern 
town of Uzice, railway workers walked off the job. The trucks in Cacak 
started Sunday in a ``dress rehearsal'' for a series of full-scale 
blockades. They were greeted by jubilant supporters as they passed 
through the opposition stronghold in central Yugoslavia. Some people 
tossed flowers as the trucks headed to an important highway linking 
Belgrade with southern Yugoslavia. The truckers brandished banners 
and posters of Vojislav Kostunica, whom the opposition and Western 
leaders insist trounced Milosevic in Sept. 24 elections. Milosevic 
rejects the claim and says a run-off election is needed Oct. 8. Workers 
at two major coal mines did not wait for Monday and walked off the 
job Saturday. However, the independent Beta news agency reported that 
hundreds of special police entered one mine _ Kolubara about 25 miles 
south of Belgrade _ and turned back local townspeople who tried to 
march to the site in protest. The move was clearly aimed at keeping 
the mine open; it supplies coal to one of the country's major electric 
power stations. The state-run power company warned strikers they were 
endangering public health and safety. About 1,000 workers in another 
coal mine in Kostolac joined the strikes Sunday. In the capital Belgrade, 
traffic was snarled by blockades at key intersections. Drivers honked 
horns and pedestrians blew whistles and shook toy rattles _ playing 
on a local expression for something broken beyond repair. ``No way 
are we going to settle for a run-off and that is now the law for everyone 
in this country,'' said Velimir Ilic, the mayor of Cacak, an industrial 
town of 80,000 people. Later Sunday, about 10,000 opposition supporters 
gathered at the main town square for a seventh consecutive night of 
anti-Milosevic rallies there. ``Our victory is as pure as a diamond,'' 
Ilic told the crowd. ``Kostunica is the elected president and we must 
persist in our resistance.'' He called for a total blockade of the 
town Monday. Opposition leader Milan Protic urged people to come out 
into the streets Monday, stay away from their jobs and keep their 
children away from school. Protic acknowledged that it would take 
time to build momentum among a public drained by years of conflict 
and economic misery. Protic, the opposition candidate for Belgrade 
mayor, said the protest leaders would try to escalate the tempo systematically 
``until Milosevic realizes that he is no longer president. In Washington, 
the National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Milosevic 
opposition is ``getting stronger.'' ``They are sending a strong message 
to Milosevic: `Your time in office is over,''' he said. But the cautious 
pace of the opposition's campaign raises questions about whether they 
will have the momentum to carry out their threats of bringing the 
entire country to a complete standstill. Authorities in Yugoslavia's 
main republic, Serbia, warned students against joining the Monday 
strike, saying ``events disrupting school activities'' for political 
purposes ``are illegal.'' Students in Nis and other cities walked 
out of class during protests last week. International pressure continued 
to build on Milosevic, who had rejected an offer of high-level mediation 
by close ally Russia. The president of neighboring Romania, Emil Constantinescu, 
urged Milosevic to concede defeat and congratulated Kostunica for 
his ``historic victory.'' Opposition leaders, using figures from their 
poll watchers, claim Kostunica won the election with 51.34 percent 
to 36.22 percent for Milosevic. But the Federal Electoral Commission, 
in a tally criticized by the United States and other countries, says 
Kostunica fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Even 
Russian President Vladimir Putin _ one of Milosevic's last major allies 
_ appeared to move toward the Western view that the Yugoslav leader 
was finished. In Berlin, the German government said Putin and Chancellor 
Gerhard Schroeder spoke by telephone late Saturday and agreed that 
``Kostunica's election victory emphatically expresses the will of 
the Serbian people for a democratic change in Yugoslavia.'' There 
was no comment from the Russians, and the foreign ministry Sunday 
repeated Moscow's position that Yugoslavs should ``decide for themselves'' 
the outcome of the election. Milosevic turned down an offer by Putin 
to send his foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, to Belgrade to meet with 
both sides. But two senior Russian diplomats _ Vladimir Chizhov and 
Alexander Tolkach _ arrived in Serbia late Saturday. The state Tanjug 
news agency reported Chizov visited Kosovo on Sunday and was to have 
official meetings in Belgrade the following day.