Serbia: Blockades of RTS and RTV, students say they will remain in front of public services until further notice

The facilities of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) were blocked after students from Belgrade and Novi Sad called for a protest last night at around 22 pm.

The protest is taking place at three locations - in Belgrade, at the RTS building, at Takovska 10, at the RTS studios in Košutnjak, and at the RTV building in Novi Sad.

The students announced that they would remain in front of RTS and RTV until further notice, or as they stated on social media, until "a new competition for REM is announced or until RTS is shut down."

"The public media service is working against all of us. Since the regulator of electronic media (REM) does not exist - no one can tame them. The protest will last until a new competition for REM is announced or until RTS is shut down," the students stated.

The protests at all three locations are proceeding without incidents, and several hundred students and citizens are present, as well as the police and gendarmerie, who are located in the public service buildings themselves.

Traffic on Takovska Street is blocked, while traffic on Kneza Višeslava Street, where the RTS studio is located, is flowing almost unhindered.

At the RTS building in Takovska Street, students held up a banner reading "RTS - Student Radio Television", and those gathered made noise by blowing whistles.

RTS had breaking news at around 1.20, during which the announcer read an RTS statement, after which a reporter who was in front of the building at Takovska 10 joined in and, as reported by N1, was greeted with applause after that inclusion.

Belgrade and Novi Sad students also gathered unannounced in front of public media services on the evening of March 10 and blocked all entrances, demanding objective reporting on the protests, and this is the second time they have organized such a sudden coordinated action.

Their first blockade lasted about 20 hours.

Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) has asked students to stop blocking the public service's facilities, after they blocked RTS facilities in Takovska Street and Košutnjak on Monday at around 22 p.m., as well as the Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) building in Novi Sad.

"We consider the blocking of public service facilities to be inappropriate pressure on employees and we appeal to those who do so to withdraw and enable us to regularly perform our work for which we are legally responsible," RTS said in a statement on its website.

A slightly different statement was made by the general director of Radio Television of Vojvodina, Goran Karadžić, who stated that RTV workers who had finished their shift were "kidnapped" because a group of people, whom he accused of terrorism, were preventing them from leaving the building.

After the students allowed RTV employees to leave the building, Karadzic issued a new statement, stating that "thanks to the mercy of the kidnappers, employees who had finished their shift were able to leave the building and go home."

"The harassment continues, the scenery stored outside the building is being destroyed, it is uncertain whether employees will be able to enter the building unhindered and exercise their right to work. From a building that the kidnappers are still holding under siege," Karadzic said.