City Council session Valjeva it was interrupted today (Monday, September 22) after only half an hour of sitting, after incidents broke out in the hall itself.
As the Kolubarske portal writes, the councilors of the opposition coalition "United Valjevo can - sVAnuće" requested that three key points be discussed at the session: the report of the Commander of the Emergency Situations Staff on the consequences of the storm that hit Valjevo and the surrounding area on September 3, the political responsibility of the mayor of Valjevo Lazar Gojković for beating citizens during the protest in mid-August, and the proposal for the dismissal of the head of the Valjevo Police Department, Vlado Jerinić.
They submitted the proposal for the dismissal of Chief Jerinić because of, as they explained: "the responsibility he bears for a long period of time, and especially on August 13, 14 and 15, when the safety of citizens was violated, brutal and excessive force was used, and an atmosphere of terror and fear was created that cannot be remembered in Valjevo."
The government accused the opposition of violence
Radoica Rstić, head of the councilor group of the Serbian Progressive Party, then took the floor and accused certain opposition councilors of "standing by and inciting young people to clash with the police and of having produced violence themselves."
After the general uproar, the President of the Assembly declared a break and called the heads of councilor groups for consultations, and the opposition councilors unfurled a banner that read: "You will answer for the blood spilled on the streets of Valjevo."
After the break, the "sVAnuć" councilors refused to return to their seats, and despite the chaos, the President of the City Assembly, Slobodan Gvozdenović, tried to continue the session as if nothing had happened, write Kolubarske and state that without counting or electronic identification of the councilors present, he stated that there was a quorum for work.
He put the proposals of the opposition to the vote, first verbally, and then "by hand". 12 councilors voted for Ivan Manić's proposal to replace Mayor Jerinić, which was not enough for adoption.
In an uproar and with the sound of whistles, Gvozdenović called for a vote on the adoption of the agenda, after which the opposition councilors "turned off" the chairman's microphone. Soon after, the President of the Assembly, Slobodan Gvozdenović, left the hall. The session was adjourned.
Manić (sVAnuće): The President of the Assembly called private security
Ivan Manić from the Coalition sVAnuće za Nova says that their demands were not accepted, that the session was then interrupted several times, and in the end the President of the Assembly called private security.
"He tried to continue the session by not sitting in his seat, but at the other end of the hall, surrounded by private security, while the opposition councilors protested by blowing whistles and holding signs. However, they summarily, without any legitimacy, without counting the votes "for" and "against", according to the principle of a flow boiler, voted on all the items from today's agenda," said Manić.
In the meantime, private security entered the hall, and following the example of Kraljevo and Zaječar, there was a push with the councilors.
"We tried to do everything we could to prevent the session from being held, but they interpret the laws, the Rules of Procedure and the Statute of the city at their own discretion and we can't do anything about it. After that, we left the Assembly," said Manić.
Sources: Kolubara/Nova
