During the last few days, thousands of students have been marching for several cities of Serbia toward Novi Sadwhere this Saturday they are scheduled to meet at the commemorative event of the first birthday of the tragedy that caused the collapse of the roof of the town’s newly renovated train station, killing 16 people. It was the spark that unleashed the wave of protests that, since then, citizens have led against the president’s regime Aleksandar Vucic, who has been in power for 13 years surrounded and dotted with corruption.
“It has been the year of Serbian youth awakeningand with it, of hope, love and solidarity, the breaking of media darkness and the liberation of citizens from the fear of Aleksandar Vucic’s criminal regime,” Ivan Stanojevic, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, explains to EL PERIÓDICO. In his opinion, it has also been “the year in which repression and the terror of the regime culminated and in which Europe could no longer pretend to ignore what the regime was doing in Serbia.
It has been one year of thousands of protests throughout the country, hundreds of actions -blockades of universities, schools, public television-, dozens of protesters and detained activists, espionage, attacks, suspension of salaries of protesting teachers, and the use of sonic weapons against protesters. That is why many have decided to walk hundreds of kilometers to meet at the place where it all began.
“No one is in prison”
“We want, first of all, to pay tribute to the victims of Novi Sad and make visible that, a year after the tragedy, no one has been held accountable, no one is in prison, absolutely nothing has changed,” he argues to this newspaper. Selma Kolasinac, architecture student at the State University of Novi Pazar (southwest Serbia). “This is further proof, added to the many we have seen this year, that the system in Serbia does not work at all. This is our way of expressing rebellion, our discontent with the injustice and the corruption that prevail in our country,” he explains.
Selma is one of the students who carry days walking. “We demand that the student demands be met, we demand elections and everything that the citizens who have been fighting for this cause for a year ask for,” he highlights. During the interview, applause could be heard, because their group has just reached Belgradewhere citizens were waiting for them, before continuing the last 100 kilometers towards Novi Sad.
“He atmosphere is amazingthere are a lot of people and it is a very pleasant feeling, especially because we have the support of the citizens,” he describes and adds that for the students of Novi Pazar, where the citizens are mainly Muslim, it is very special. “Here we are all equal; We are guided by unity, honesty and freedom,” he argues.
Teacher support
Among them there are also teacherslike the Stevan Avramovicthe teacher of Serbian language and literature from Paracin, who has carried out 12 marches in recent months between different cities with the students.
“We walk to Novi Sad to pay tribute to the victims, but we are also a kind of traveling showcase. When people see us walking, they think that then it is not difficult to reach the destination by public transport,” says Professor Avramovic. Furthermore, it highlights that the teacher support It is essential for the students and that they fight together for ideals.
And what do you expect from the November 1 demonstration? “I would like nothing to happen, because it is a commemorative event and those victims deserve the anniversary to be remembered with peace and dignity,” says Selma. “But the regime will possibly try to sabotage the event as much as possible,” he fears.
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