Speculation that Mr Slobodan Milosevic's arrest was imminent soared yesterday after a police van, an ambulance and several unmarked cars showed up near the former Yugoslav president's home.
Mr Milosevic's Socialist party informed the Serbian parliament of the development in a dramatic announcement.
Its deputies rushed to their leader's home in the exclusive Dedinje district of Belgrade to join a band of his supporters
Reporters saw a blue police van of the sort normally used to transfer arrested suspects, an ambulance and around six other plain cars or jeeps in streets near Mr Milosevic's home. The Socialists said Mr Milosevic had not been arrested.
The development came as Yugoslavia approached a deadline for today set by the US to be declared as co-operating with the UN War Crimes Tribunal, which has indicted Mr Milosevic, or face US economic sanctions.
The reformists who ousted Mr Milosevic have said he will not be arrested on war crimes charges before the deadline. But they have left open the possibility local justice authorities might order his arrest for alleged offences such as corruption.
Belgrade's private BK television, citing a police source, said the incident arose after police tried to replace some of Mr Milosevic's bodyguards. Some guards had refused to be replaced and Mr Milosevic refused to accept the new guards, it said.
The Socialists' parliamentary leader Mr Banislav Ivkovic said he was sure police had mounted an arrest attempt.
Reporters saw some men in the jeeps dressed in dark clothing but no sign of any weapons. The men hid their faces and would not speak to the flood of reporters who descended on the scene after the Socialists' announcement in parliament.
Members of a round-the-clock "people's guard" of Mr Milosevic supporters outside the house said they had seen rifles and hand guns when the vehicles were in front of the residence before reporters arrived.
In Washington, Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said he would take into account all actions taken by Yugoslav authorities when he decided whether or not Belgrade had met a series of democratic tests, including co-operation with the UN tribunal.