The wave of protests in Serbia triggered by the death of 15 people in the fall of the canopy at the Novi Sad railway station is not abating, and the students who have been blocking sixty faculties and calling for a general strike for more than a month are getting more and more support.
A large part of the public considers the authorities responsible for the accident at the station, which contributed to the low-quality reconstruction of the station building, the consequence of which was the fatal fall of the canopy.
The government, on the other hand, accuses the students of being “politically instructed” and “foreign mercenaries whose intention is to carry out a “color revolution”, targeting them with the pro-government media and trying to divide and intimidate them, while the opposition, which seeks the formation of a transitional government that would prepare the conditions for fair elections attributes the intention to take power on the street.
After a mass protest on Friday evening in front of Radio and Television of Serbia, which is required to objectively report on protests and student blockades, the pro-government media published an official estimate that around 15,000 people had gathered.
The Archive of Public Meetings organization estimates that there were between 53,000 and 55,000 students and citizens who supported them in front of RTS and on the streets in the center of Belgrade.
Around 4,000 professors of the University of Novi Sad supported the students with a protest march in Novi Sad on Saturday, and the resignation of the rector of the university, who refuses to stand by the students’ demands, was demanded at the meeting.
The Bar Association of Serbia decided in declare a seven-day work stoppage on Saturday in support of the demands of students who demand that all details and complete documentation about the reconstruction of the station be published, the activists arrested during the protests be released, and the thugs and provocateurs who attack protesters and students during the blockades are prosecuted.
The two latest attacks resulted in serious injuries to a student who was “picked up” by a driver on the sidewalk during the blockade on Thursday in Belgrade, and a knife attack on students protesting on Friday in Novi Sad.
“The state is sending killers to students” is one of the messages of the mass protests that followed after a student was seriously injured when a driver crashed into a group of protesters while they were honoring those killed in the Novi Sad tragedy with a 15-minute silence.
Educational unions and administrations of most high schools and many elementary schools announce that they will suspend classes on January 20, when the vacation ends, which, due to the support of high school students for students, the Ministry of Education declared at the end of last year a week earlier than the usual school calendar.
Many schools that are not members of any trade union and have not previously participated in the protests of educators are increasingly deciding not to hold classes on Monday, at the beginning of the second semester, while some are announcing that they will shorten the hours, the FoNet agency reported today.
The Independent Union of Educators of Serbia (NSPRS) announced on Saturday that “formal and informal pressure” on employees is ongoing in a large number of schools across Serbia due to the announced complete suspension of work and the protest rally “Teachers and teachers are with students”, scheduled for Monday. , January 20 in Belgrade.
At the same time, messages are coming from the ranks of the opposition, which the students do not allow to interfere in the blockades of the faculty, that it is necessary to “strengthen the blockades and block parliamentary work”.
“No one, especially politicians, has the right to hide behind students,” said the president of the conservative New Democratic Party of Serbia, Miloš Jovanović.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić tried to amortize the increasingly obvious dissatisfaction of the public, whose support for students is growing, and proposed the so-called an advisory referendum where he would check whether he has the support of the citizens.
The invitation came after public opinion polls published by the non-governmental organization CRTA showed that 61 percent of citizens stand by the students and their demands.
The parliamentary opposition told Vučić that they will not participate in his “playbook”.
