The author of the article, Andrej Ivanji, the text in the Berlin Tagescajtung begins by quoting the statement of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, from his Instagram profile: "Even if you think I'm like Assad, that I'm going to run away - I'm not." Ivanji explains that student protests led the "Serbian autocrat" to make such a "dramatic statement".
Students blocked classes at 33 faculties in four university towns in Serbia. "Their number has doubled since Vučić ridiculed the number of students who demonstrated a week ago and accused them of receiving money from local and foreign villains with the sole aim of removing him from power."
The readers of the German newspaper are told the statement of Tijana (23), a final year student at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, who says that "there is no justice in Serbia", that "the status of citizens in the state system depends on their political beliefs. 'I am still not sure that our blockades they can change the system, but they have the potential to do so if we keep up the pressure and if college administrations end up standing behind their students.''
Vučić seemed untouchable
The Berlin newspaper writes that "the supposedly stable Serbian autocracy, which has the status of a candidate for EU membership, was suddenly shaken, because young people who were written off as apolitical spoke out loud".
At the same time, as stated, "everything went well for the Serbian autocrat Aleksandar Vučić for twelve years. Step by step he trampled the constitution and laws, took state institutions and the media under his control and tried to silence civil society. He outplayed the divided opposition with ease. He neutralized sporadic and sometimes massive civil protests with minimal use of force. Vučić seemed untouchable."
But then, the author writes, on November 1 the roof collapsed at the train station in Novi Sad - 15 people died. "After the shock and sadness, the anger of many citizens followed. Two ministers resigned, and thirteen people were arrested. But that was not enough. The slogan Your hands are bloody echoes like a battle cry throughout the country."
The opposition invites citizens to actions during which traffic is stopped, under the motto 15 minutes for 15 victims. During one of those actions, some students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts were beaten, and the perpetrators were also well-known members of the ruling SNS. That was the last straw, so the students blockaded their college and demanded the arrest of the attackers. Blockades of other faculties and new demands followed, according to Tagescajtung.
"The situation is reminiscent of the student protests in Serbia in 1996/1997, which led to the downfall of Slobodan Milošević. The authoritarian regime cannot give in, but it is very difficult to appease young people when the flames of rebellion against injustice are burning", writes the author and states that more than a thousand professors and scientists signed a petition in support of the students, that many actors and educators supported them, and that farmers also organized social protests in parallel.
"It seems that the ruler of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, for the first time since he has been in power - does not know what he is going to do," concludes Andrej Ivanji in an article for Berlin's Tageskeitung.
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