Two rows of tractors and double fences guard the Pioneer Park in Belgrade, where "students who want to learn" reside. Between two barricades, citizens and students in the blockade today urged them to leave the park and join a mass protest announced for tomorrow.
The Pioneer Park is guarded by guards and police, and the media was not allowed in either. Campers from the group "students who want to learn" did not want to talk to a "Vijesti" reporter. Most of those staying in the fenced park opposite the Serbian Parliament were in their tents today, behind tarpaulins and other shelters.
Several hundred citizens and students in the blockade watched them from the fence, called for a conversation, demanded that they leave the park and join the "liberation of Serbia."
They also spoke with the police officers guarding the park, demanding that they enter and remove the fence, which they were not allowed to do.
"Students who want to learn" said today that they will not leave the park tomorrow, when a gathering of protesters from several parts of Belgrade was announced in front of the Serbian parliament.
As citizens outside the fence told "Vijesti", they came to witness and record who is participating in this project, which they claim was organized by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
They called those staying in the park traitors, mercenaries and "sandwich people." It's not too late to come to your senses, they said, and stand on the right side of history.
Andrijana Milojević said she stopped on the way to the city when she saw tractors guarding the so-called "Ćaciland", as this camp is called by the students in the blockade and those who support their protests.
"I don't even know what this is anymore. We wanted to see exactly what these people look like and to see what this gathering really is. This is a truly sad picture when you look a little closer," she said.
Her friend, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed out that it was sad that behind the fences and tractors there were the fewest young people, and the most of those who were easily visible as being on the social margins.
Nenad Anufrijev told "Vijesti" that what they are witnessing these days in Pioneer Park is an almost unbelievable picture.
"If these are students, then I'm still in my doctoral studies," he answered briefly when asked if he saw any familiar colleagues among those in the camp.
Anufriev said that not only he but "all healthy young people" will be at the protest in Belgrade tomorrow and invited everyone to join them. He wants to see if those citizens behind the fence will come to their senses when they see the rivers of people around them tomorrow at 16 pm.
Several gathered citizens said they wanted the so-called "students who want to learn" to leave Pioneer Park and allow "free Serbia" to show its greatness tomorrow.
The temporary residents of Pioneer Park were in no mood to talk or take pictures or film. They spent their time sitting on benches, in their tents and between them. The gendarmerie increased their security later today.
Citizens gathered on the other side of the fence loudly protested, recorded live broadcasts for social media, and used cameras to document as many of those behind the tent as possible. They said that the end had come for SNS and "Pink", referring to the media outlet of the same name. Some of the young men outside the fence punctured the tires of part of the tractors that were protecting the park.
"Faculties to students" and "Plenum down" were some of the banners in the park, while the fences bore slightly different messages - "Everyone on the streets" and "Don't put your hands up, corruption bites." One of the slogans of the student protests - "pump up" - could be heard several times.
Students in the blockade, who have been blocking faculties and universities in Serbia for months, have announced one of the largest protests to date for tomorrow. Their colleagues from various cities in Serbia have set off on foot to Belgrade to support them, and Belgrade students are welcoming them tonight at Terazije.
"Ćaciland", as it was officially mapped on Google Maps, was named after the inscription that was spray-painted at the entrance to the "Jovan Jovanović Zmaj" High School in Novi Sad after the start of the second semester - "Ćaci u škola".
After that, the students in the blockade and those who support their protests called all sympathizers, supporters and members of the SNS and the current government "cacks".
Most universities in Serbia are blocked, and students are demanding accountability for the deaths of 15 people in the collapse of a canopy at the reconstructed railway station in Novi Sad, as well as the publication of complete documentation.
They have scheduled a protest in front of the National Assembly in Belgrade for tomorrow at 16 p.m., where demonstrators heading towards the parliament from four locations - Autokomanda, New Belgrade, Republic Square and King Aleksandar Boulevard - will converge.
Vučić and other officials of his SNS have previously said that protesters in Serbia want to provoke a coup d'état tomorrow.
Bonus video:
