"This is a once-in-a-lifetime call," says the student Milos Pavlovic in the television studio "Inform". In the lower right corner of the screen, the clock counts down: 33 hours to a large public gathering.
Behind Pavlović, over the entire wall, in close-up is the head of the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić. The show ends with a several-minute clip of one of Vučić's interviews, followed by commercials.
The countdown clock disappears from the screen and is replaced by a promotional video. Famous and mediocre celebrities associated with the Serbian Progressive Party are lined up, who directly invite the viewer to come to the meeting of the Movement for the People and the State on Saturday, April 12.
Ads are ending. The cameras are shooting again: "Collegium" begins. Dragan J. Vučićević and Dejan Vukelić are in their usual places, ready to perform the task that comes with the position of "Informer" editor. The clock has also returned - 32 hours until the historic meeting. You can feel the excitement in the air, and almost the entire show is dedicated to the rally that the President of Serbia has been calling for days.
There is no rest even in the advertising block. During the short breaks for advertising, the invitation to the progressive meeting must be "twirled" several times.
"Pink" also has its own program.
This is what the "Informer" program looks like on the morning of April 11. It is followed by other televisions, including those with a national frequency. Although there is no special clock on them that counts down to Vučić's historic rally, they, all of them, broadcast calls to the national assembly.
"Informer" is the most imaginative in advertising Vučić's rally, but the festive atmosphere is also felt on "Pink". In the morning program of Jovane Jeremić, several guests, among others the minister without portfolio Đorđe Milićević and the vice-president of PUPS Stefan Krkobabić, talk about the great parliament that awaits them.
At the bottom of the screen is the number for the inclusion of spectators, who also invite the squad to a meeting in front of the National Assembly. Or they regret that they cannot come to the same, because they live far away and have no income.
Portals are also activated.
But not only the editors of television news programs recognized the topic. All the portals - "Alo", "Kurir", "Politika", "Novosti", "B92" and many others - are also very active, writing enthusiastically about the "great national assembly".
Many portals went a step further: not only did they dedicate the largest space to Vučić's assembly, but they also broadcast live events from the assembly, which has not yet started.
"Citizens, 30 more hours until the national assembly 'We will not give Serbia': a large patriotic gathering in the capital, preparations are in full swing", "Alo" is counting down. By the time this text is published, that number will be slightly lower.
"Final preparations for the national assembly: Here is what is currently happening on the streets of Belgrade," writes "Novosti".
In the continuation of the text, for the umpteenth time, invitations to the meeting follow, and the citizens are invited by: Miloš Pavlović (once again), the president of the Tourism Organization "Velika Plana", who is signed by "Novosti" as a representative of the entire municipality, students who want to study (actually, Miloš Pavlović this time), a pensioner, other representatives of different municipalities, an elderly gentleman and a married couple.
Preparations for the meeting
In addition to the media machinery that is properly doing its part, preparations for the three-day fair, which will officially begin on Friday, April 11, are taking place on the ground as well.
Then the "biggest Serbian flag" will be unfurled on the streets of Belgrade, and the main program is scheduled for March 12, which "Pink" also calls "the holiday of the people, state and community".
Kralja Aleksandar Boulevard is closed in the stretch from the Main Post Office to the Faculty of Law, and fair tents have been set up along that part of the boulevard.
"Ćaciland" metastasized from Pionirski Park to the area in front of the Assembly, where white tents also sprung up. A stage was also set up in front of the parliament building.
Pioneer Park, where "students who want to learn" have settled, is once again threatened by tractors. The farmers were welcomed by the President of Serbia in person, and in the middle of the night.
Already seen
Such invitations to the meeting have been seen before. It was in May 2023, after Serbia was gripped by the "Serbia against violence" protests, as a reaction to the mass murders in the elementary school "Vladislav Ribnikar" and the villages of Duboni and Mali Orašje.
After several weeks of protests, the government decided to organize a counter rally called "Serbia of Hope", which at one time was also announced as the largest rally in the history of Serbia.
In reality, despite the hype and countdown, the rally was remembered as a complete fiasco.
Several tens of thousands of people gathered in the center of Belgrade, and many participants scattered to other parts of the city, partly because of the rain that fell relentlessly that day, and partly because the president's speech was quite late.
The progressives will not make the same mistake twice: this time, the gathering area is surrounded by fences, and security will almost certainly be set up at critical points - partly to prevent unwanted guests who could spoil the festive atmosphere, but also to stop the dispersal of the crowd, unwilling to wait for hours for the president's address.
This time, everything must look like a triumph—at least from the outside.
