After several hours of protest due to the fact that the police entered the Office of the Prosecutor's Office on the order of the Prosecutor's Office, on Tuesday around 22 pm, the rector of the University of Belgrade appeared on the terrace of the Office of the Prosecutor Vladan Djokic with megaphone in hand. He put his hand on his heart, looking at the plateau below him, crowded with citizens, students, professors and deans, and the gathered people greeted him tumultuously. We are transcribing his speech in its entirety.
The police came to humiliate the University
"Today at noon, members of the Criminal Police entered the Rector's building of the University of Belgrade. Without prior notice. Without a clear legal explanation. Without respecting the autonomy of the oldest and most respected educational institution in Serbia."
They confiscated computers and receivers. They are searching the offices. They are asking for documents.
And while they were doing it — regime television was broadcasting it live. They didn't come to investigate. They came to humiliate. They came to tell every professor, every student, every citizen: look what happens to those who don't keep quiet.
Let's be clear about what happened today.
Police raid with cameras
A young woman died on Thursday. A tragedy that deserves a dignified, independent and thorough investigation. The University of Belgrade immediately called for such an investigation. We provided full cooperation.
Instead, we got a police raid on camera.
The Rector's computers do not contain any information relevant to the investigation of the death of a female student at the Faculty of Philosophy. Everyone knows that. But that's not the point. The point is the picture: the police in the Rectorate. Rector under investigation. University on its knees.
That picture is for you. To be afraid. To think: if they can do this to the University, what can they do to me?
Protest in front of the rectory: "We will not give the rector"
Students are not afraid.
But let's look at the second picture.
While the police entered through one door — students came through the other. Thousands. Spontaneous. No party invitations, no organization, no bus. They came because they know what's going on. They came because this is their university. They came because they are not afraid.
That is the true picture of today. Not the police at the Rectorate. Already students in front of him.
Message to the authorities
To the authorities who ordered this, I say the following:
You can take computers and receivers. You can't take the truth.
You can search the offices. You cannot search the conscience of the people.
You can send the police. But for every patrol you send out, a thousand students will come.
Sixteen people died in Novi Sad. No one answered. No one was replaced. No receivers were confiscated. No offices were searched.
But when the rector stands by the students — that's when the police come.
That tells you all you need to know about this government. They are not afraid of crime. They are afraid of education.
Message to students
You saw what happened today. You have seen the police at your University. You saw the cameras broadcasting it like it was a victory.
That's not a victory. It is an admission of defeat. When the government sends the police to the university, it means that it has lost all arguments. When he preys on computers instead of answering questions — that means he has no answers.
You stood on the streets for fifteen months. In the rain. In the sun. In the frost. They said you would give up. You didn't. They said you were terrorists. You didn't. They said you were foreign mercenaries. You didn't. Now they are sending the police to your University.
And you won't give up now.
Message to citizens
What happened today at the University of Belgrade was not an attack on me personally. This is an attack on the idea that there is anything in Serbia that the government cannot control. The university is the last institution standing. That's why they came.
But the University does not stand upright because it has walls. It stands because it has people. Professors who refuse to be silent. Students who refuse to be afraid. Citizens who refuse to forget sixteen lives from Novi Sad.
Computers and receivers can be taken away. But what makes this University — honor, knowledge, truth — they cannot put it in a box and take it out of the building.
Photo: AIA large number of citizens waited for hours in front of the Rectorate until Vladan Đokić addressed them
Death investigation
The University of Belgrade fully respects the rule of law. We support any legitimate investigation. But what happened today has nothing to do with the investigation. It had to do with intimidation.
I repeat the call: we are asking for an independent, if necessary, internationally supervised investigation into the circumstances of the death of our student. We are looking for forensic experts, not political operatives. We seek the truth — not punishment for those who seek it.
A message to the international community
Today, the police entered the University of Belgrade. It is broadcast live as a political spectacle. This is not an investigation. This is a showdown with freedom of thought.
I invite universities across Europe, the European Commission, the European Parliament and everyone who believes in academic freedom — to advertise. Belgrade today. Tomorrow, any other university in Europe that dares to stand by its students.
I will end as I began—with the truth.
This government is not attacking the University because we have done something wrong.
He attacks us because we have done something good.
We stood by the students. We stood by the truth. We stood by Serbia.
And we will continue to do so. With or without receivers.
It's not in malice, it's in the power of knowledge."
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