Students blocking the University of Niš demanded, at a protest on King Alexander Square in that city in Serbia, the calling of early parliamentary elections "so that the captured institutions of the system can be liberated."
They also demanded responsibility for the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station on November 1, 2024, from the "Let's Choose" protest.
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering student Milica Najdanović said that everyone gathered at the protest "stands as the conscience of this country in the name of the 16 lost lives."
"They are no longer there because they were swallowed up by a system in which corruption is stronger than responsibility, and a chair is more valuable than human life," she said.
According to her, in a country where corruption kills and institutions are silent - the state ceases to exist.
"Sixteen people did not lose their lives due to illness, nor to an accident, but due to negligence and irresponsibility," Najdanović pointed out.
She said that over the past six months, students have been asking the question of who is responsible and who will be held accountable, and that "instead of answers, we have received silence, blackmail and threats."
"When institutions do not react, the people must speak up. That is why today we are not begging, but clearly and loudly demanding early parliamentary elections," Najdanović stressed.
She said that the system is not functioning, and the government no longer represents the citizens.
"When the government loses touch with the people, the people have the right to remove it. We students speak on behalf of all who believe in justice and freedom. Enough is enough, we want elections, we want responsibility," Najdanović emphasized.
Mechanical Engineering student Dimitrije Prokopović rejected claims that students are calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order.
"No. On the contrary. We call for respect for the Constitution of Serbia. We would like to use this opportunity to request the President of Serbia to call early parliamentary elections," Prokopović said.
He said that the students respect the office of the President of Serbia, therefore, as he stated, "they are addressing him on behalf of hundreds of thousands of citizens who no longer agree to live in an atmosphere of political abuse, in a political crisis, abuse of institutions and the collapse of democratic principles."
"You claim that you have the support of the people, that the people are with you, that you are a kind of stability. If all of that is true, why are you running away from the elections? If you believe in your strength, if you believe that the people really support you, stop making 'chats' around Serbia, call elections without party pressure and media control," he said.
Professor of the Faculty of Economics Marija Džunić said that the participants in the "Let's Elect" protest did not come by bus, were not surrounded by wire, and did not come for a sandwich.
"Today we are doing a much more important thing. We are united today, students, their professors, parents, teachers, we are united by their strongest idea in their most just struggle. We are led by that army of the purest hearts, and those are our students," said Džunić.
The "Let's Choose" protest began with the awarding of medals to student walkers, cyclists, and runners, and ended with a sixteen-minute silence for the 16 victims of the collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad.
The protest participants have begun to disperse, but the police and gendarmerie are blocking the streets leading to King Milan Square because some participants of the National Assembly organized by the government are still in the square and in the city center.
A large group of Serbian Progressive Party supporters is, as in the afternoon, at the intersection near the "Red Rooster", but the police and gendarmerie are not allowing them to approach the participants of the student protest who are passing by.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said today in Niš that the (student) demands are over and that he is no longer interested in them, and that early elections will be held when the competent institutions decide.
DON'T MISS IT
Vučić told the students in the blockade, who are demanding early parliamentary elections, "not to demand too much," and assessed that, even if they were called, the ruling coalition would win even more convincingly than in the previous ones.
According to him, they (the students) are demanding elections so they can say in advance that they were robbed and so they would have a new reason for protests, and that they "are not competent" to even demand it.
"The demands are over, Niš is a new free territory, and so will the whole of Serbia," he said at the central part of the "All-People's Assembly", which also promotes the Movement for the People and the State, initiated by the President of Serbia.
Meeting without incident
A close encounter between SNS supporters and students and citizens took place in Niš, at the intersection near the "Red Rooster" - without incidents.
A large number of SNS supporters, mostly younger men, waited at the intersection for the column of students and citizens, but a clash was avoided thanks to the gendarmerie on one side and war veterans and bikers on the other.
All the while, as the column passed, provocations and threats were heard from both sides, but the meeting passed without conflict.
Students and citizens headed to King Alexander Square where the "Let's Elect" protest was organized at 18.30:XNUMX PM.
The "National Assembly" is being held at King Milan Square, organized by the ruling structures.
Bonus video:
