A larger group of representatives of the republican and provincial parliament blocked the main and official entrance of the building where the High Court and the High Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad, as a sign of protest that those responsible for the tragedy in which 15 citizens died in the fall of the canopy at the railway station were not arrested.
There was pushing and shoving between the police and the opposition. Pavle Grbović, Srđan Milivojević and Radomir Lazović managed to enter the court building.
Grbović: The police reacted clumsily, their guns fell out
The president of the Movement of Free Citizens, Pavle Grbović, said that the police caused violence in front of the courthouse, that they reacted so clumsily that their pistols fell out and that several MPs found themselves behind the cordon and entered the building.
"Inside, we were offered to meet, I guess, with the president of the court." We refused that if they don't let all heads of parliamentary groups to the meeting. Because they cannot prevent MPs from entering a public institution during working hours."
"We are not terrorists negotiating their surrender, but opposition politicians and citizens seeking justice for the crime in which 15 people were killed."
Lazović: The idea of blocking the Court until the end of the working day
Radomir Lazović from the court building told "Vreme" that the idea is to block the Court until the end of the working day and put pressure on the judiciary to start doing its job.
He briefly lost consciousness upon entering the building after a push with the police, but quickly recovered.
"The protest was peaceful until the police attacked us." At first we were neither on the stairs nor tried to enter. "The employees of the court were understanding because they know that this is an important issue," says Lazović.
"And then all of a sudden the police started to disperse us, push us, to which we resisted and managed to break through the cordon and enter," he says.
He assesses the behavior of the police as "repression". "If they arrest people who demand that the law be respected and attack MPs who call for the arrests of those responsible for the fall of the canopy, that seems like a police state to me."
As a reminder, the employees of the court and the prosecutor's office came to work earlier this morning, and at 07.05:XNUMX a.m. forty policemen in equipment for breaking up demonstrations were stationed in front of the main entrance.
Court guards let employees in, and some MPs who wanted to enter were not allowed to do so.
In front of the court were MPs and councilors of the opposition Marinika Tepić, Borislav Novaković, Pavle Grbović, Borko Stefanović, Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, Radivoje Jovović, Srđan Milivojević, Miran Pogačar, Mladen Cvijetić and others.
They unfurled the flag of Serbia in one moment and formed a human chain in front of the court.
By the way, the first blockade was held yesterday when they blocked the court building for six hours, because of which certain hearings were cancelled. All the time, the police were on the scene in equipment to break up demonstrations.
The opposition is organizing this protest because those responsible for the death of 15 people in the fall of the railway station canopy must be held accountable.
In the meantime, Srđan Đurić, the president of the youth committee of the Novi Sad Free Citizens Movement, was arrested, then released after an informative interview. He was stopped last night on the Theater Square by two plainclothes policemen, who identified themselves and stated that it was an informational interview, not an arrest. However, he was not told the reason. In the meantime, the MUP announced that the Novi Sad police will file a criminal complaint against him for attacking a police officer during the court blockade.
Photo: 021.rsThe incident in front of the courthouse
Minister of Justice: The blockade is an unprecedented pressure on the judiciary in the history of Serbia
Minister of Justice Maja Popović assessed that today's opposition protest in front of the court and prosecutor's office in Novi Sad is an unprecedented pressure on the judiciary in the history of Serbia.
Popović said on TV Pink that yesterday the members of the opposition from the provincial and republican parliaments and councilors from Novi Sad came to the court and prevented the judges and prosecutors from doing their jobs.
She added that the way they treated judges and prosecutors who were going to their workplace was dramatic.
As she said, the videos show that the members of the opposition were in front of the court wanting to create chaos and exert pressure.
"Judge of the High Court Ivana Josifović was attacked when entering her workplace and filed a criminal complaint," said Popović.
Source: 021.rs
