Common student protest i farmers will be held on Sunday, December 22 at 16 pm at Slavija Square. The initiative also called for a protest "The bridge remains" which opposes the removal of Belgrade's Old Sava bridge, with the announcement that its activists will be at the protest of students and farmers.
Support for the gathering came from actors as well as activists from the non-governmental sector. The actors of the Belgrade ensembles will gather at their home theaters, and then at 15:45 p.m. they will leave the Yugoslav Drama Theater for Slavia.
The protest is taking place exactly one month after the students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts took to the streets to honor the 15 victims of the accident at the Railway Station in Novi Sad on November 15 at a commemorative 1-minute rally "Stop, Serbia". On that occasion, they were attacked on the street in front of FDU, which triggered massive student protests and blockades of faculties at universities across Serbia.
The decision to schedule the protest on Sunday was voted at the faculty plenums, which are in a blockade. At this moment, after the Faculty of Theology again voted to suspend classes, all faculties of the University of Belgrade, the University of Arts in Belgrade, the University of Novi Sad, the University of Nis and the University of Kragujevac are in lockdown.
The demands of the students are the publication of all documentation on the reconstruction of the Railway Station in Novi Sad, the dismissal of charges against those arrested and detained at the protests, as well as the filing of criminal charges against the attackers of students and professors. Plenums of some faculties also requested an increase of 20 percent in the allocation of budget funds for faculties.
In a statement on their official social networks, students in the blockade announced that the protest scheduled for Sunday "represents a non-partisan, student initiative" and that "representatives of political parties are not welcome."
Several high schools and gymnasiums throughout Serbia are under blockade: in Belgrade, Požarevac, Valjevo, Pančevo, Obrenovac, Čačak, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Užice, Zrenjanin, Požega, Sremski Karlovci, Ivanjica... The list is being extended daily.
In the meantime, the Government and the Ministry of Education have made a decision to end the first semester on Tuesday, December 24, and to make it last a week longer. The Ministry of Education cited "the preservation of the teaching process, as well as the interests and rights of students to education" as the reason for the sudden interruption of classes. However, professors and students of numerous secondary schools made a decision to do not accept decision on the premature end of the first semester, because, as they say, that It wouldn't be legal.
Farmers supported the students
Support for students from farmers arrived ten days ago, when the United Farmers' Associations of Serbia announced that they were cutting off all communication with the Government of Serbia due to pressure on farmers and called on all citizens to join and help students in the blockades.
Farmers called the Ministry of Agriculture, the Parliamentary Committee for Agriculture and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia to account.
On that occasion, they also appealed for emergency aid to be given to students in the form of food and necessary necessities, but also for coordinated human support at the blockades, and if necessary, mechanized.
"On Sunday, December 22 at 16:20 p.m. in Slavija, students are calling us - parents, farmers, doctors, professors, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police, army: 'Come and stand with your children,'" said Zlatko Kokanović, a farmer and a member of the "Ne damo Jadar" association after the "Stop, Serbia" action on Friday, December XNUMX.
The initiative for the survival of Serbian farmers, of which "Ne damo Jadar" is a member, organized on Saturday, December 21 at the University campus in Novi Sad cooking goulash for students participating in faculty blockades.
