RTS student blockade: There was no Morning Program this morning either

The student blockade of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) in Belgrade has entered its 81st hour, the Beta agency reports today.

Since April 14th at 22 pm, the facilities of the Public Service of Serbia in Takovska Street and Koštunjak have been blocked.

The blockade will last, according to the students' announcement, until a new competition for members of the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) is announced, or until RTS is shut down.

RTS is adjusting its programming schedule during the blockade, and the editorial board of that media outlet has repeatedly called for an end to the blockade.

This morning, there was no Morning Program on the first channel of RTS, but instead a feature and documentary program was broadcast in that time slot.

The RTS portal writes that groups of students in blockade and groups of citizens are still blocking the RTS buildings in Takovska and Košutnjak.

Bikers joined the students blocking the main entrance to RTS, and the corner of Takovska and Ilija Grašanina streets remains blocked with containers and fences.

Takovska Street is blocked from the corner with Bulevar kralja Aleksandra. Traffic is also stopped in Kneza Višeslava Street in Košutnjak.

Due to the difficult working conditions caused by the blockade, RTS was forced to change its programming schedule.

Students in the blockade of the State University of Novi Pazar (DUNP) announced on official social networks that on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, some DUNP students will be in Belgrade, in front of "the RTS premises on Košutnjak and in Takovska in support of colleagues during the Easter holidays."

The RTS portal writes that students and citizens who are blocking the entrances to the RTS facilities in Takovska and Aberdareva Streets this morning, as well as the studios on Košutnjak, are preventing employees from coming to their workplaces.

RTS also states that the blockade is illegal.

The students on the blockade announced last night that they would also wait out Easter in front of RTS because "the fight for truth must not stop - not even for the holidays."

Belgrade and Novi Sad students blocked the buildings of RTS and Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) in a coordinated action on Monday evening, claiming that public media services were not reporting objectively on their protests.

The Novi Sad police and Gendarmerie have meanwhile lifted the blockade of RTV, while the blockade of RTS has continued.

The blockade will last until, say the students, a new competition for members of the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) is announced, or until RTS is shut down.