Opposition protest in Belgrade: "Recycling of nonsense"

Cause of 14 people die at the railway station in Novi Sad it was held protest in Belgrade, which began with the reading of the names of the victims and a minute of silence in front of the Government of Serbia. The organizers this time were the parties of the parliamentary opposition.

After the speaker's address and presentation of the demands, the gathered started walking towards the Presidency on Andrićevo venc to hand in the demands, but they did not succeed because a police cordon awaited them. And the building was empty.

They will thus submit the requests to the National Assembly. The organizers and the gathered citizens demand, among other things, the resignation of the Prime Minister of Serbia, Miloš Vučević, and the Mayor of Novi Sad, Milan Đurić.

However, there is no answer from the representatives of the opposition as to what they will do after this protest and when their demands are not met. No common plan, common vision was presented to the interested public. Instead, fresh and discord can be heard again.

The question of the Trojan horse is raised again, which, it turned out, was Milica Zavetnica in the previous opposition convocation. How could Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in "Cyrillic" on TV Happy know in advance exactly how the protests would play out after the fatal accident - both in Novi Sad and in Belgrade? Does his prophecy rest on eavesdropping on opposition members, or is someone from the opposition ranks "singing", as some opposition leaders insinuate.

Photo: FoNet / Marko Dragoslavić

Čuta: It is a shame that MPs are afraid to go on stage

The latest opposition protest is irresistibly reminiscent of last year and the months-long demonstrations in Belgrade that did not lead to any changes for which tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets for months.

This was also said by the MP of the Ecological Uprising, Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, who considered it a "shame" that since Ribnikar, and it is known how those protests ended, MPs are afraid to go on stage and address the citizens, to "they hide behind actors and celebrities".

"Our job is to be with the citizens and the people where the problem is: on the stages, on the barricades, on the bridges, from crime to crime, in a state where the criterion is death, in which it will be as long as Aleksandar Vučić is in charge." Jovanovic told the protest on Monday.

Milivojević: The opposition is jealous, they don't even understand well-intentioned criticism - they see it as a conspiracy

Political analyst Cvijetin Milivojević tells "Vreme" that he wants to speak as a citizen, not as an analyst.

"I am no longer sure if it makes sense for us, who are not in politics, to comment or advise something, because I notice that the current line-up of the opposition is very competitive, and that they do not understand even well-intentioned criticism as such - they see it as a conspiracy." It occurred to me that this meeting does not show that there is any coordination of political subjects from the opposition, non-governmental organizations and all others who present themselves as fighting for the interests of citizens," says Milivojević.

This is illustrated by the fact that despite the fact that for 11 days a group of activists defended the Old Sava Bridge from demolition, there was no contact or connection between the two protests.

"It is known that the activists gathered around Đorđe Miketić protects the Old Sava bridge from demolition, and yesterday a meeting was organized in front of the Government of Serbia and the Presidency. First, I asked the question why that protest was not organized in Novi Sad, instead of what is happening in Belgrade? But, if it is already being held in Belgrade, then the most logical thing is for the meeting to start, or to end at the Old Sava bridge. And that didn't happen. That is why I am forced to conclude that part of the opposition actually wants to demolish that bridge".

Milivojević says that "yesterday, the opposition had a place there, by the bridge, instead of walking around the ghostly building of the Presidency of Serbia and the Government, and it was clear that Vučić was not there."

It would be the most logical thing to support those people as well, because their ultimate goal is the same, according to the interlocutor of "Vremena".

Dikić: We only react to corpses and blood

Aleksandar Dikić, doctor and journalist of KTV television, attracted media attention with his inclusion in the Nova S program from the opposition protest.

He assessed that with the fall of the canopy, the government should have fallen, but instead "we fell as a people", that "the opposition also fell".

"The canopy was destroying the whole system. If the question is how the people feel: the people are bitter, the people don't trust anyone anymore, and this is recycling nonsense. Some demands are being made again, as in May 2023, resignations are being demanded, and the demands will certainly not be fulfilled. Again, the people get wet, they freeze, they don't trust the institutions or the opposition. He is angry, and he has no one to direct that anger towards," Dikić said.

He pointed out that security guarded the empty building of the Government of Serbia at the protest, and that there was no police, unlike the protest in Novi Sad. He publicly asked how the president of Serbia could predict how the opposition protests in Novi Sad and Belgrade would unfold?

Why?
Well, that's why❗️
...because he knew in ADVANCE everything related to the City Hall in Novi Sad, as well as the blockade of the Varadin bridge, and also related to the protest in Belgrade in front of the Government of Serbia. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/TtpjVKQXRA

— Aθαμαη ζαΓλιβλιαηςκι (@atamanzagliblje) November 12, 2024

"How could Aleksandar Vučić announce to (Milomir) Marić that there will be an invasion of the City Hall, and that the opposition will report a protest in Belgrade on November 11, not November 13?" We all wonder that. I wrote an article where I stated that Aleksandar Vučić is the worst president in the history of our Republic, as well as that this is the worst and most disorganized opposition we have had so far, and we are, unfortunately, the worst generation in the history of the Republic, because we are like that - what we are. "I wonder if the canopy had fallen at 12 o'clock at night or at another time when there would be no victims, would anything have changed in Serbia," said Dikić.

He added that "it seems that we are only reacting to corpses and blood", but that "even that is not a sufficient trigger for any major changes to occur".

Photo: Tanjug / Vladimir Šporčić

Đilas: We can defeat Vučić only with the truth

In the show "Behind the news" on TV N1, the president of the Freedom and Justice Party, Dragan Đilas, when asked by Danica Vučinić what the opposition's plans are now and how he can change something, answered that he will defeat Vučić with the "truth".

And he cannot say anything about the plans of the opposition, but only about the plans of his party. What to do next after the protest, he said: "Our plan is very clear, it is based on the fact that we can defeat Vučić with the truth." Only the truth, and nothing else. I've been saying that for months. That's the only place where he can't fight with us, because he's a liar, he lies every day, and all of his people lie. And he loses there. Our plan is for as many people as possible in Serbia to learn that truth, which is one of the tasks of the opposition".

He stated that more than half of Serbia has no information about the activities of the opposition.

"We deal with it. We use everything we can. We use the networks, you have a series of clips on all the networks and SSP profiles of what Aleksandar Vučić has agreed and promised. And more and more people find out every day. When a sufficient number of people find out about it, then with the change of election conditions, we will have elections in which that part of Serbia will be the majority, and that is the whole plan," stated Đilas.

This, he says, is a realistic plan for ousting Vučić from power, and he is convinced that there will be early elections next year.

"Some talk about the number of people (at the protest), others say it should have been something concrete." According to our estimates, there were about 15.000 people in terrible weather and they are all heroes and I am grateful to them. Decent Serbia won that protest. Today, we have a situation where some people write on the networks that the SSP defended the Presidency - we are talking about our guards who are doctors, teachers..." said Đilas.

Photo: FoNet / Marko Dragoslavić

Šarović: Groundhog day

The leader of the "Love, faith, hope" movement, Nemanja Šarović, said in the Nova S morning program that yesterday's protest was like a "groundhog day".

"I must honestly say that I left disappointed. I was also at a protest in Novi Sad and there was an incomparably larger number of people there, the energy was completely different. Yesterday seemed to me like a groundhog day, some things that are difficult to understand are repeated again. If a deadline of 48 hours is given to adopt some demands, and those demands are not adopted, then a protest is scheduled for Wednesday, November 13, and then they say 'no, we won't, but we will on November 11', and then you on the 11th. November, you give the deadline until the end of the week... what's next," he asked.

He is convinced that Vučić will not accept the demands of the opposition within the given period of 15 days.

"We've seen it before, we saw it in May, those walks lasted for months, we all know how it ended," Šarović said.

"Unfortunately, we also saw it in December when there were protests against election theft, so they said to postpone it until after the New Year, until the holidays are over, and then we will continue." When the holidays were over, one protest was held and then they said 'now we no longer schedule in advance, but as needed' and it was immediately clear that not one would be held".