Students' plans for Vidovdan: "More and more concrete than on March 15"

"In terms of numbers, we certainly expect the Vidovdan protest to be similar to March 15. But we also hope to do more and be more specific than then."

This is how a student of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade comments on the student plans for a protest on June 28 for "Vreme". He is not the first to compare the next protest with the one on March 15 this year, when on the streets of Belgrade the largest number of people in modern Serbian history - according to the estimates of the Archives of Public Meetings, over 300.000 dissatisfied citizens.

The state responded to the peaceful protest staged violence in Pioneer Park and unconfirmed use sound weapon, about which the editors of "Vremena" wrote a whole series of articles that united in "The Hook dossier".

What to expect on June 28th

Although everyone agrees that March 15 showed how much people in Serbia support the student rebellion, there was no concrete action.

"I'm still not sure what it is. I hope it's better than last time," says the Law student.

Political scientist Cvijetin Milivojević agrees that the protest on March 15 showed that a huge number of people support the students and are dissatisfied with the state of the country, but that it did not lead to concrete changes.

"I don't really know what the students are preparing, but I know what the citizens expect, those who were on the streets on March 15. They are now expecting some kind of action," Milivojević told Vreme. "I'm not talking about what the regime's propaganda wants to impute to the students, that they want to carry out some kind of coup d'état. Aside from the fact that a coup d'état, by definition, is carried out by state institutions, it is a coup that comes from the system itself, not from citizens. We are now talking about specific actions that are expected from students, but also from other subjects."

 

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Set deadlines

Thus, June 28 could be a new chance for students in the blockade, because on March 15, they "reacted too late".

"Students should state their demands, there is no need to wait indefinitely. And not for the president of the state to play some kind of deity and omnipotent for seven months and worry about what he will agree to do and what he won't. They should demand that, for example, the president of the republic return to his legal framework by a certain deadline. If he doesn't do it, and the Constitutional Court doesn't react either, the students should immediately say what will happen," believes Milivojević and adds that maybe his idea isn't the best, but "as the students are buzzing with ideas, he is convinced that he will come up with something concrete so that there will be no disappointment like on March 15".

As a good example for setting a deadline, the political scientist talks about the blockade of RTS, when students blocked public service buildings for two weeks. Now he thinks he should go a step further.

"And the opposition finally has to take a stand and get out of the role of Vučić's ficus in the parliament. They don't have to return the parliamentary mandates, but they have to create a petition demanding elections," says Milivojević, who thinks that the student request to call for elections lacks an address that should be addressed by the parties fighting against the current government in Serbia.

That's why he adds that the petition for calling the election of the participating opposition would be that address.

"The opposition should draw up the petition no later than June 28, without waiting for autumn and vanity and fear of it - in order to pass the elections," adds the political scientist.