After several hours of large-scale protest in front of the General Staff building, citizens and students laid flowers and wreaths on Tasmajdan in front of the "We were just children" and "Why?" monuments. On the day when the NATO bombing began in 1999, they demanded the restoration of the status of a cultural asset to the General Staff complex
The students in the blockade called for another large protest, this one in front of the destroyed General Staff building in Belgrade, on March 24, the day when the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began 26 years ago.
25 years ago, the bombing of FR Yugoslavia ended and, thus, the war in Kosovo. The Serbian army and police began to retreat. From the archives, we bring the impressions of "Vremena" reporters, published in issue 441 of June 19, 1999.
The government has no respect for the victims of the NATO bombing: the RTS Memorial Center did not start construction even five years after it was announced, the General Staff is about to be sold, and Skyline was built instead of the Federal MUP
We witness the same attacks on the media under similar charges, without prosecuting the perpetrators, and we fear that they may be repeated, announced the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, which reminds that the attack on the media did not happen only in Serbia in 1999.
The bomb was safely defused and destroyed, and the 1.300 citizens who were evacuated from the Stevan Sinđelić settlement in Niš this morning have returned to their homes, the Ministry of Interior announced.
Belgrade needs hotels, but they must be built in the intended locations and in a fair market, says economist Milan Kovačević for "Vreme". Giving away salaries on the grounds of the General Staff only opens the door to corruption
Russia's proposal to discuss the NATO bombing of the FRY in the UN Security Council on the occasion of the 25th anniversary was not adopted. Three members voted in favor, twelve abstained
The attack by Serbian forces on the Kosovo village of Racak took place on January 15, 1999. 45 Albanians were killed. The head of the OSCE observer mission at the time, American diplomat William Walker, hastened to say that it was a "massacre of Albanian civilians". Western media reported the news, which spread like wildfire. Serbia denied in vain. It was a direct reason for NATO to bomb FR Yugoslavia
The vast majority of young people in Serbia, between the ages of 18 and 30, say that they did not receive sufficient and adequate knowledge about the wars of the XNUMXs in the territory of Yugoslavia during their education, according to research by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights.
24 years ago today, NATO began bombing Serbia and Montenegro. The muffled explosions, the screeching of anti-aircraft defenses, the hissing of cruise missiles, the wailing of warning sirens, the state of emergency, collateral damage, civilian casualties, the suppression of the media, the Kumanovo defeat, the withdrawal of the army and the police from Kosovo were deeply etched in the Serbian collective memory and to this day cause anti-Western sentiments of many citizens. We publish what the "Vremena" reporter team recorded during the first days of the bombing in the special edition of March 27, 1999.
At the gathering, contacts will be collected for the people's initiative, which will be submitted to the Serbian Parliament, and the goal is to restore the status of a cultural asset to that complex.
The gathered will then walk to the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, and the end of the protest is planned for 21 pm. [caption id="attachment_4895564" align="alignnone" width="1600"]
Miljan Salata, a member of the working group for the defense of the General Staff for N1, said that the General Staff is the last line of defense, and that if we allow the General Staff to fall, not only that building will fall, but the entire protection system and mechanisms that protect cultural assets.
"Then we no longer have the Fair, we don't even have the General Staff. Tomorrow someone might think of building some buildings in Kalemegdan or Petrovaradin, so that no cultural property is safe anymore. We have to say enough as a profession and as citizens, we have to preserve our own cultural heritage and we cannot allow ourselves to be erased from our own history," he says.
He pointed out that it is important to understand that the fight for the General Staff is a fight for every cultural property on the territory of the Republic of Serbia and that the Government of the Republic of Serbia violated the constitution in November of last year.
"She violated the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property, by making a decision independently. They could not have done it without the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, and those people who are now doing their job professionally and responsibly are under tremendous pressure from the state security, from the entire state apparatus," said Miljan Salata.
[Caption id = "attachment_4895565" align = "alignnone" width = "1600"]
"The last bastion and symbol of NATO bombing" Student Dunja Stanojković reminds us of the consequences of the bombing in Serbia - what was destroyed, what are the consequences for health... She also said that the students in the blockade refuse to remain blind and mute to injustice. "Our mission is to wake up as many people as possible, to remind them that everyone can contribute to the betterment of society. If the international community was silent then, we will not be today, we are not giving up our fight," said Dunja Stanojković. She also stated that the General Staff "stands as the last bastion and symbol of NATO bombing. "Today they want to take that away from us, we will not allow them to do that," she said. [caption id="attachment_4895566" align="alignnone" width="2560"]We don't let our General Staff give away. pic.twitter.com/JsZMK6whXo
- Biljana Lukić (@BiljanaLuki) March 24, 2025
On the scaffolding next to the General Staff building, the banner "New generations are coming who remember the murderers of their nation" was unfurled.
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From 18:19.55 p.m., speeches and a performance by the Faculty of Music choir are planned, and from 1999:XNUMX p.m. there will be a minute of silence for the victims of the NATO bombing in XNUMX.View this post on Instagram
At the gathering, contacts will be collected for the people's initiative, which will be submitted to the Serbian Parliament, and the goal is to restore the status of a cultural asset to that complex.
The gathered will then walk to the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, and the end of the protest is planned for 21 pm. [caption id="attachment_4895564" align="alignnone" width="1600"]Miljan Salata, a member of the working group for the defense of the General Staff for N1, said that the General Staff is the last line of defense, and that if we allow the General Staff to fall, not only that building will fall, but the entire protection system and mechanisms that protect cultural assets.
"Then we no longer have the Fair, we don't even have the General Staff. Tomorrow someone might think of building some buildings in Kalemegdan or Petrovaradin, so that no cultural property is safe anymore. We have to say enough as a profession and as citizens, we have to preserve our own cultural heritage and we cannot allow ourselves to be erased from our own history," he says.
He pointed out that it is important to understand that the fight for the General Staff is a fight for every cultural property on the territory of the Republic of Serbia and that the Government of the Republic of Serbia violated the constitution in November of last year.
"She violated the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property, by making a decision independently. They could not have done it without the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, and those people who are now doing their job professionally and responsibly are under tremendous pressure from the state security, from the entire state apparatus," said Miljan Salata.
[Caption id = "attachment_4895565" align = "alignnone" width = "1600"]"The last bastion and symbol of NATO bombing" Student Dunja Stanojković reminds us of the consequences of the bombing in Serbia - what was destroyed, what are the consequences for health... She also said that the students in the blockade refuse to remain blind and mute to injustice. "Our mission is to wake up as many people as possible, to remind them that everyone can contribute to the betterment of society. If the international community was silent then, we will not be today, we are not giving up our fight," said Dunja Stanojković. She also stated that the General Staff "stands as the last bastion and symbol of NATO bombing. "Today they want to take that away from us, we will not allow them to do that," she said. [caption id="attachment_4895566" align="alignnone" width="2560"]We don't let our General Staff give away. pic.twitter.com/JsZMK6whXo
- Biljana Lukić (@BiljanaLuki) March 24, 2025
