In addition to students and farmers, high school students, actors, activists and other citizens came out to Slavija on Sunday. The MUP estimated that around 29.000 people attended the protest, while the Archives of Public Meetings stated that they had never had such a large task, and that they did not know when they would be able to give an estimate of the number of demonstrators.
As the "Vremena" reporter reported from the scene, there was a huge number of citizens in Slavija. Traffic was stopped, and the central streets were blocked. Although the protest officially started at 16:15.30 p.m., people already stopped the traffic around XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
The participants of the protest at Trg Slavija in Belgrade, among whom there are many citizens, students, farmers and actors, started to disperse around 17 pm.
After the protest, the students again headed to their faculties, where the blockades continue. Traffic on Slavija started moving again around 18:XNUMX p.m.
The protest passed peacefully, without any recorded incidents.
Gathering in front of the National Assembly
A group of students and citizens who were at the protest in Slavija after the protest headed towards the House of the National Assembly, with banners that read "Freedom", "Everyone on strike", shouts "SNS mafia", "The scoundrel is swinging" and the song "Get out" , small".
Some participants of that gathering headed towards the entrance to the Assembly, but stayed under the stairs at the ceremonial entrance to the parliament building. Traffic on Nikola Pašić Square is stopped.
Photo: Time
Silence, then noise
After a fifteen-minute silence, held in memory of the 15 people who died in the fall of the canopy at the Railway Station in Novi Sad, which lasted until 16.45:XNUMX p.m. with the lights on the phones, the participants shouted, as before, "Your hands are bloody" and "Vucic, go away."
Trg Slavija was full of people, as well as the streets that flow into it - Kralja Milana, Beogradska, Prota Mateja, Mackenzie, Sveti Sava, Bulevar oslobodenja, Deligradska and Nemanjina.
At the protest, the students unfurled a large banner with the inscription "We are all under the canopy."
Among those present were not only young people, but also many older citizens. High school students were also present, carrying the banner "When will half the world end?". One teenage girl carried a banner with the words "I'm not the state, I'm mommy and daddy's", alluding to the words of Serbian Progressive Party MP Vladimir Đukanović who recently stated that a child up to the age of 18 is the property of the state.
Ferrari flag
As the "Vremena" reporter reported, the famous Ferrari flag, which once marked the student protests in 1996 and 1997, was also seen at the protest.
The students also developed a large national flag at Slavia, which was circulated around the square by those present passing it above each other's heads. When they unfurled the flag, the students began to sing the hymn "God's Justice", the FoNet reporter reported.
One young man fell ill during the protest, and an ambulance entered the crowd around the fountain. The intervention of the ambulance was greeted with applause.
The protest was attended by parents with children, actors, some opposition politicians, as well as activists of the initiative "The bridge remains" and activists of the movement "Ne damo Jadar".
Archive of public meetings: The biggest task so far
The Archives of Public Gatherings, which has been counting participants in public gatherings since 1991, announced on the X social network that "they have never had such a big task", to count the number of people at a gathering.
"At this time, we cannot provide an expected time estimate for the size of the gathering," the organization said.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia announced that the public gathering in Belgrade began around 15.15:16.40 p.m., and that at 28.000:29.000 p.m., between XNUMX and XNUMX citizens were present at the time when attendance was highest.
SLAVIJA 16:20.
Collection is not complete.
We have never had such a big task.
At this moment, we cannot give an expected time estimate of the total cost. pic.twitter.com/wpI1VDHeM6— Arhiv public skupova (@javniskupovi) December 22, 2024
Gathering in Niš as well
The action of standing in silence for those who died in the fall of the canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station began today at 16 pm in Niš as well. While the citizens paid their respects to the victims of the tragedy in Novi Sad, there was a conflict between two men, who were separated by the students.
One of the people standing on the side threw, the other man reacted. Students stood between them and separated them.
Niš students gathered in the city center to pay their respects, but also to support the student protest in Belgrade.
The main banner at the rally is "Protest is an exam", writes FoNet.
Support from Washington
Support for students also came from the capital of the United States of America.
About fifty people gathered in front of the Capitol, the US Senate building in Washington on Sunday, December 22 at 11.52:XNUMX a.m. local time.
Đajić: We are self-sufficient
Zoran Đajić, a geologist who was in charge of supervising the works at the Railway Station in Novi Sad, tells "Vreme" that he is convinced "that this will end with Serbia finally becoming a real democratic state".
"That means we don't need a leader." For the first time, something is happening in Serbia without the people saying: 'Well, that's enough, we won't let you lie, kill and steal from us anymore', and there is no one standing in front and leading the way. The students made us all aware that we don't need anyone in charge, that we are self-sufficient," Đajić points out.
He believes that Europe will mention Serbia in the coming years as an example of the first country where real democracy has returned.
"Democracy no longer exists anywhere in the world, because some people always pull the strings of the people." Serbia will take matters into its own hands and there will be no more leaders".
Đajić also points out that the authorities in Serbia "have no argument, they only know how to lie, steal and spit."
"These are people who have no morals and nothing valuable in them." We are people full of morals," says Đajić for "Vreme".
Cicvarić: We are not worried about the holidays
Student and activist Pavle Cicvarić is also at the protest, who tells "Vreme" that it is necessary to insist on the unity of citizens and students, in order to make people aware of the fact that they are all together in this fight.
"We are all together under that one canopy." The problem that is literally over our heads will not distinguish between who is a citizen, who is a student, who is a high school student, who is on the left and who is on the right. At the end of the day, who is the government and who is the opposition. This is a universal problem and the only way to solve it is to show unity," Cicvarić points out.
When asked by the journalist "Vremena" about the further course of the protests, Cicvarić states that there is a certain fear, but that he believes that the protests will survive the holidays.
"After all, that New Year is also a day that is symbolically celebrated. People who are ready to take to the streets now will be ready to be on the streets in two weeks. I wouldn't worry about that at all."
Arrest of Petković, seizure of Kokanović's tractor
A few hours before the start of the protest, a farmer from Gornji Nedeljice and activists of the "We don't give Jadar" Zlatko Kokanović is the Parking Service, with the assistance of the police, took away the tractor parked in Prote Mateje Street. Movement activist Nebojsa Petkovic was arrested and then released.
After Kokanović parked the tractor at number 16 in Prote Mateje, the Parking Service intervened, and members of the Police Brigade, with the opposition of many gathered citizens and students, enabled the spider to drive away Kokanović's tractor, the FoNet reporter reported.
Support from various sides
A joint protest of students and farmers is scheduled for Sunday, December 22 at 16 p.m. on Slavija square. The "Most Remains" initiative, which opposes the removal of Belgrade's Old Sava bridge, also called for a protest, 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 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 hospital formed a commission for an extraordinary expert check and informed the health inspection. Cases of death during childbirth in Serbia rarely receive a judicial epilogue.
The request for disqualification of the prosecutor delayed the implementation of the order for the arrest of the legal representatives of the "Millennium Team". The case has now been taken over by the First Basic Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, which should continue the proceedings urgently
The tender for the construction of the mast at Ušće was suspended because no offer was received. In the city budget, only 5,4 million dinars are planned for this purpose, while no funds are planned for the next two years.
For 75 months of living in a 36-square-meter apartment in Dorćol, I spent 21.600 euros. For that money, I could buy five square meters in the Old Town at the moment, which has risen on average from 2.129 to 3.958 euros for old buildings.
Poštanska štedionica takes over the payment of insured deposits to clients of Alta Bank, whose license was revoked by the NBS, and individuals and certain legal entities will be able to withdraw money, up to a limit of EUR 50.000 per depositor.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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