After Novi Sad, hardly anything can be the same, and it is only fortunate that none of the students and citizens who are bestially beaten by massed police forces, violating all legal and human standards, using all available pyrotechnic means - he did not lose his life. Actually, the progressive government is action in Novi Sad sent a very clear message that she has declared war on the citizens and is ready to kill them in the streets in order to preserve power.
Our interlocutors, analysts and activists, most of whom were directly present in Novi Sad's night of long batons and tear gas - say that the police action showed that Serbia has officially given up mimicry of the European path and the rule of law. It is a deeply divided society (on the one hand, the government and its subscribers, on the other, citizens) that is on the verge of civil war, and it is difficult to expect that a return to at least a semblance of normality is possible, while it is ruled by Vučić and the Vučić family. They warn that Serbia is the fifth country in the world in the number of weapons per capita, and that it is slowly (and again) becoming a powder keg.
The weakness of the regime is reflected in the fact that there is no response to the 10-month-long civil uprising except violence and primitive propaganda that this violence is supposed to justify. Some of the interlocutors believe that Vučić, with violence on the Novi Sad campus, began to carry out a brutal campaign of subjugation of higher education, because that is where the "heart of the rebellion" is hidden. As we know, he has already announced the trampling of state universities. That he wants to stifle all freedom, including freedom of speech, has been clear for a long time, and this was symbolically shown by the policemen who abused our colleague Katarina Stevanović, knowing full well that she is a journalist who is just doing her job.
Everyone agrees that after this the protest bloc should first consolidate and then reorganize, because a new phase of the struggle has begun. There is no room for improvisation. A smart person does not give in - a smart person organizes, says one of the interlocutors, Marija Srdić from the Novi Sad movement "Bravo".
Pajtić: Novi Sad - a wounded and unconquered city
Novi Sad Faculty of Law professor and former Prime Minister of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtić, says that on Friday the citizens witnessed a hysterical attempt by a pathetic amoral autocrat to use violence to instill fear among the citizens who pay for it and to whom, according to the Constitution and the law, he should be accountable. According to him, Vučić, both in the international community and in the informed part of the public, has had no dignity or credibility for a long time, and all he has left is bare power. Given that people of integrity have raised their heads in the prosecutor's offices and courts, the government now relies exclusively on criminals and the police, between which there is hardly any difference.
"Vučić's regime has completely abandoned the mimicry that Serbia is a legal democratic state with European ambitions. The biggest problem for the self-proclaimed ruler of Serbia is Novi Sad, a wounded and unconquered city, where he is not welcome, where the vast majority of residents openly despise him. Surviving the people of Novi Sad was much more a revenge campaign against the participants in the protests, than a legal and legitimate police operation. The progressive government is playing with fire, not caring if someone will die because of their banditry. "Serbia is the fifth country in the world in the number of weapons per capita. I am afraid that, due to the regime's savagery, their end will be extremely painful legally," Pajtić told "Vreme".
Stojković: Amplification of horror
Belgrade University professor and Democratic Party activist Biljana Stojković was assisted by medics in Novi Sad on Friday after she "swallowed" tear gas. He says that Vučić showed in Novi Sad that hundreds of broken heads are worth less to him than his "mafia rule". He also says that now the students are on the move, and they need to reorganize in accordance with the new circumstances.
"We all know that calling elections would reduce tensions, because it would be easy to orientate and organize the actions of citizens. But we also know that Vučić is on the way to the near end and he will not agree to that. While he keeps us all stuck because of his fear of losing power, he will fall from mistake to mistake. The citizens can only continue what they are doing now - gathering and resisting the police. We are very close to the situation in the country becoming unsustainable, which is why Vučić will have to call elections. And then a new wave of radical madness awaits us," she says.
Stojković believes that the intrusion of the police into the campus and the rector's office is aimed at subduing the university.
"There is no idea in this government to normalize the work of higher education, but to abolish it. They see the university as an enemy that needs to be destroyed. The violence I have witnessed is thoughtless and murderous. The police clash with citizens chaotically, on the orders of someone who is irrational and blind with hatred. I think Vučić will now step up his efforts to completely subjugate higher education and education as a whole, because that is where the heart of the rebellion lies. It is probably clear to him that what he is doing is not even in in his interest, since he cannot contribute to the pacification of the civil rebellion. The situation is so escalated and he is stuck for both sides that Vučić has no choice but to intensify the repression against his greatest enemy - universities and students. His hope still lies in the effect of amplifying the horror, lest it return the people to a state of quiet and peaceful despair. However, that time has passed," says Stojković for "Vreme".
Novaković: Vučić is hastening his end
For the vice-president of the Serbian People's Movement and former mayor of Novi Sad, Borislav Novaković, there is no doubt: the Novi Sad protest is a turning point, because there is no longer even a semblance of legality in the way the repressive apparatus is abused. Even worse, all the mechanisms that would return us to the legal channels of a decent, civilized and civilized community are slowly being lost.
"The country is on the verge of a silent civil war. Vučić's desire to pacify the whole of Serbia by suppressing the rebellion in Novi Sad will never succeed. Due to his bestiality and unscrupulousness in his actions, Vučić is unwittingly hastening his end. Unfortunately, that end will be very conflictual. That is why it is important that in the face of his aggressiveness and brutality, we develop determination, persistence and massiveness as the basic characteristics of our protests. Regime change is close, but it is very important for the political environment of post-Vučić Serbia, that the change of regime takes place as peacefully as possible. Otherwise, there will be no Vučić personally, but Vučićism will remain, as a freakish practice, which will burden political life in Serbia for a long time to come," Novaković told Vreme.
Đurić: Various messages of violence
Political science professor Milorad Đurić believes that the "raising the stakes" of the autocratic regime through dramatic repression against the citizens of Novo Sad has different meanings. First, the autocratic regime is trying to show its electorate, which has begun to seriously collapse, that it "controls the situation" and that no one "can defeat the state".
"This effort by the autocratic regime to create the impression that it has moved from a permanent political defensive to an offensive over the past ten months is also accompanied by the organization of citizen gatherings, all over Serbia, that are against the blockades. As for students and citizens, the autocratic regime has a double intention - to radicalize the narrow core of the student and civil movement, to draw them into a spiral of violence and thus further legitimize police brutality, as well as to frighten and demotivate the broader layers of the civil rebellion demonstrated "by the steadfastness of the state. This would reduce the student-citizen protest to a handful of aggressive desperadoes, while the rest would 'demobilize' and return to political passivity," says Đurić.
All of this together has the basic goal of changing the atmosphere in society in the next few months, for the autocratic regime to regain as much as possible its seriously damaged political rating, in order to call elections at the end of this year, or in the first quarter of next year. According to the government representatives, this would put an end to this, in the last twenty years, most serious political crisis and legalize and legitimize the new cycle of government.
"The student-citizen movement would have to plan gatherings more carefully in the future in order not to fall into traps and staged situations set by the regime and to avoid frustrations and unnecessary expenditure of energy. This means, first of all, that they would have to strengthen the internal police services that would react to interjected provocateurs. Because, apart from staged provocations and brutal police interventions, the autocratic regime clearly does not have any other means to oppose this to the student-citizen tide," he says.
Heart: Overworked regime
"Bravo" activist Marija Srdić says that the regime will continue to use physical violence against citizens. There is no doubt. However, the struggle must continue, but she also says that the rebellious part of society must stop for a moment and reorganize.
"The struggle and resistance to the disorganized, now autocratic government must continue. The rebellious part of society must stop for a moment and reorganize. 'Novi Sad Police Brutality Week' has a tendency to continue and repeat itself in other places. Combativeness, persistence and willingness to sacrifice are important, but they should not turn us into ordinary cannon fodder. Let us remember that the important cry of these protests: the smart does not give in - the smart organizes! This means today: we learn from our (and other people's) mistakes, we consolidate, we reorganize, we act in sync. The regime is at its maximum and is overstretched. And we are still on the path of growth," she says.
