BELGRADE RIOTS LEAD TO ARREST OF OPPOSITION LEADER

Serbia's main opposition chief was arrested yesterday after playing a leading role in a night of street clashes in Belgrade in which a policeman was killed and three others wounded.

Police arrested Vuk Draskovic, his wife, and other officials of the Serbian Renewal Movement after a crowd of 4,000 tried to storm the parliament building late Tuesday.

They were protesting the ousting of federal president Dobrica Cosic and the beating of an opposition deputy by a hard-line nationalist in parliament. Mr. Cosic's ouster was engineered by the Serbian Radical Party led by ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj.

The protest marked a rare outburst of public opposition to the Serbian government of President Slobodan Milosevic, who has exercised a strong hold over Yugoslav political life.

Stone-throwing crowds clashed with riot police when they charged the parliament steps. Armored cars and police patrolled streets around the parliament and along the major Revolution Boulevard during the night, but by dawn life had returned to normal.

Police said in a statement 121 people, including Mr. Draskovic, were being held, and legal charges were being brought against them.

Meanwhile in Bosnia-Herzegovina, United Nations Protection Force Commander Barry Frewer said the UN was investigating the firing of two shells that exploded amid soccer players in Sarajevo on Tuesday, killing at least 11.

The UN suspended relief flights to the Bosnian Serb-besieged capital of Sarajevo yesterday, after a United States plane was hit by gunfire at the airport, a UN spokesman said.

Muslim-controlled radio said Serb troops backed up by tanks were also assaulting the eastern Muslim enclave of Gorazde from all directions, and thousands of civilians are fleeing the fighting.