A new protest “Serbia against violence” is being held in Novi Sad today, in which several thousand citizens, after a protest walk, blocked the intersection near the Freedom Bridge that connects Novi Sad with Sremska Kamenica, Anadolia reports.
Demonstrators at today’s protests also presented demands that were announced at the beginning of May, after two tragedies in which 19 people died in Belgrade and the villages around Mladenovac, when they demanded the replacement of leading people in the security sector and the media sphere, and the confiscation of national frequencies from Pink and Happy television stations. and shutting down media that spread lies and hatred.
The protest began in front of the Serbian National Theater, where the former professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Čedomir Čupić, addressed the crowd and said that the current government has been generating negative phenomena in society for many years, which resulted in two mass crimes in an elementary school in Belgrade, in the villages around Mladenovac, and who, at the same time, “have laid bare those who organize and manage our lives”.
“Our spring tragedy is local and heavenly. Unfortunately, even this terrible warning that arrived in a monstrous way does not make some wiser or stop them. They still continue with the pattern with which they spread fear, blackmail, torture and what is perhaps the most difficult is that we Googled all media activities and accepted them as some kind of normality,” Čupić pointed out.
He said that the current government, through various acts of violence, “broke and turned citizens into indifferent and powerless people”.
“This tragedy is neither accidental nor the product of an individual act. It was fueled in various ways and encouraged by everyday acts of violence from family, street, work to the most important authority in the country – the legislature, that is, the assembly,” said Čupič, adding that is to remain silent and not resist violence, nothing else, but to come to terms with its acts that endanger us until we disappear.
“If we don’t oppose violence, we will disappear one by one. Individuals cannot resist violence alone, only all of us who are against it have to go and say ‘it can’t be like this anymore,'” said Čupić.
He noted that protests against violence have great and noble purposes – to free the frightened from fear, to encourage the indifferent to oppose it and to lift up the powerless and restore their personal dignity.
Čupić emphasized that at the protests throughout Serbia, it is necessary to insist that the citizens’ demands are fulfilled to the end, and then to prepare an agreement for new elections under the conditions as practiced by developed democratic countries.
After his speech, the protest column went to the intersection before the Freedom Bridge, where the protesters were told about various forms of violence. from the Society of Architects of Novi Sad, and Dijana Milosavljević from Odžak, who testified against the arrested teacher suspected of pedophilia.
During the walk, the demonstrators shouted “Vučić, leave”, and some wrote graffiti on the asphalt “fulfill the demands” and “resign”. In addition to the security guards, today’s rally was secured by the traffic police. It is predicted that the blockade of the intersection near the Freedom Bridge will last until 9 p.m.
On the Anadolu Agency (AA) website, only part of the news content is published, which is available to users through our News Flow System (HAS). Please contact us for subscription.
