Belgrade melts for days at temperatures exceeding 35 degrees, and every shade becomes precious. The asphalt is shining, and there are fewer and fewer green oases in the city. One of the few parks in the center has not been accessible to citizens for more than a year.
Pioneer Park On March 6, 2025, it was turned into a camp settlement and a gathering place for "students who want to learn" and other supporters of the government. Almost a year and a half later, although no one studies in it anymore (if they ever did), "Cacilend" is surrounded by a double metal fence coated with grease.
Upcoming elections there are expectations that much bigger things will change in the country than one park. Nevertheless, the lawn in front of the Presidency reminds that even the most basic issues of public interest are not easily resolved in Serbia.
Defeat of society and state
"The moment Aleksandar Vučić, as the president of the country, says that 'Ćaciland', that is, Pionirski Park, will be freed, that day it will be freed. Until that moment, there is no institution in the state of Serbia, in the city of Belgrade, that can prevent this," says the president of the city committee of the Movement of Free Citizens and a city councilor Stefan Simic for "Time".
Photo: AIThe police are constantly present around Pionirski Park
In the early days of "Ćacilenda", the president of the Serbian Progressive Party and former prime minister, Miloš Vučević, said that it was "a symbol of resistance and an indication that not all of Serbia is blocked." However, today only that part of Serbia is blocked, since the student blockades ended last year. What it is still for is not entirely clear.
What is clear is that the fight is closer. If it is not possible to "liberate" Pionirski Park for more than a year, how will the institutions and the state be "liberated"?
"I am not a supporter of being negative. I think that many things are resolved in elections. I believe that at this moment it is easier to change the government at the republican level than to liberate Pionirski Park. There is also a little to the fact that the citizens are tired. People who pass by simply turn their heads, they don't want to look that way anymore. That is a defeat for society, a defeat for the state," says Simić.
According to him, PSG filed criminal charges in connection with the occupation of this park, but until today no one has responded to them.
Occupation of public space
Co-president of the Green-Left Front and Member of Parliament Radomir Lazovic tells "Vreme" that he does not know exactly how to liberate the state in the elections if we cannot liberate Pionirski Park, but that the key is surely in the coordination of the opposition.
Photo: AIPionir Park is surrounded by a double metal fence, so citizens have no access
"This is violence in which the thugs, the police, the institutions, everyone participates. In order to oppose it, we need coordination, agreement and gathering. The Serbian Progressive Party will not leave power just like that. They will do anything, they are ready for anything, including the occupation of public space such as Pionirski Park and the construction of a mafia camp, paramilitary, paramilitary. I think that even better organization and coordination is needed on this anti-regime side of ours, and as far as I am concerned, I am ready to participate in it. I participate", says Lazović.
He adds that the institutions are not concerned with the protection of the green areas of this park, nor with the protection of others in the city.
"Not only do they not deal with the protection of the green area in front of the Presidency, but they also don't deal with the protection of Košutnjak, or Zvezdara šume, or Ušće, where the construction of an aquarium is planned. Therefore, they are misused in order to enable some kind of interest, in this case of Pioneer Park to make 'Ćaciland', in other cases to earn money", he explains.
Lazović concludes that the fact that "Ćaciland" still exists shows Aleksandar Vučić's fear of mass trials on the streets, and that it serves as a "base for carrying out violence against ordinary people."
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