A voice hums from the megaphone politely reminding the gathered to pick up after themselves and not leave trash. The cleaning operation will start soon and will last for the last three hours of the blockade. Some of the banners are slowly being packed, while those hung on the overpass above the highway remain as a reminder. And then, the students will split up. Someone goes home to rest, and someone goes to university. Blockades continue
"My knees are killing me. Due to the injury, I can't stand this long. But I don't even think about going home", says Dušan S, a student from Niš, who set off for Belgrade early in the morning to participate in the Autokomanda blockade. He came alone. As we approach the large white tent that the students have converted into a mini dining room, we notice six black engines.
The rough sound of the engine echoes through the intersection towards South Boulevard. During the entire blockade, bikers were among the most active. They help students all the time, and their motorcycles are decorated with various stickers, such as the one "You won't be able to go on". They are smiling and cheerful. But they don't expose themselves too much because, as one of them says, this is a matter for students. Bulky gray concrete blocks, stacked on top of each other, were placed as physical barricades. Everything looks unreal, utopian. There are no cars at Autokomanda, the biggest traffic junction in Belgrade. Instead – thousands and thousands of students.
Autokomanda tonight is not just a stop in traffic, but the heart of civil disobedience. In the crowd of people, I recognize one face. Actor Ivan Jevtović joined the students. "Today is the second day that rebellion has been expressed to this extent. The first was the general strike last Friday. That day I felt so dignified", the famous actor tells "Vreme". He perceives the rally at Autokomanda as a continuation of civil disobedience and a new form of pressure on the authorities in which a large number of decent, honorable citizens participate. "When I say decent, I mean that they try to get answers to the questions they asked within the legal framework. I expect our government to finally provide some constructive answers and respond to the demands of the students." Jevtović adds that he will stay with the students until the end.
TWO UNIVERSES, ONE STATE
While we are trying to make our way through the crowd, Dušan is reading an announcement from the website of the Serbian Orthodox Church on his phone. His facial expression is difficult to interpret, but it is clear that he is annoyed. In the announcement, among other things, it is written that students live in parallel universes and that they should choose which of the two universes they will live in.
"While some students proudly carry icons and national flags, kiss them while crossing themselves, others at as many as three faculties - Organizational Sciences, Political Sciences and Law, watch silently and without protest as the same flag is desecrated and desecrated on stage, and those who cross themselves are hurled the most shameless insults."
Then they talk about the incident in Matica Srpska, and again at the end, Dušan Stokanović, an official of the Patriarchate, adds that the students should decide in which universe they want to live, and "as they decide, so will it be".
Dušan reads the announcement over and over again. "The church is a religious institution that has not only a responsibility towards believers, but a moral and social responsibility towards all citizens. Something like this is unacceptable and I find it hard to believe what I read. Let's not desecrate anything, the vast majority of people who came to Autokomanda would never do such a thing. They cannot generalize such actions", Dusan said.
However, Dušan agrees with one part of the announcement. "Students really live in parallel universes," he says.
The blockade takes place on St. Sava's Day, a school holiday. But what kind of sanctity and peace can we think about at a moment when Serbia is shaken by a political and social crisis of enormous proportions? How to celebrate the holiday of education if no one from the government hears or sees educators for years? And finally, pupils, students and many who once were, are now on the streets. They don't feel like celebrating. They only ask for responsibility and justice. That's what their universe boils down to right now.
In another universe live those who accept life without rebellion and distance themselves from students because they think that their only job is to study, to be obedient citizens and not to look at others or the common good. They turn a blind eye to repression, fear-mongering and injustice, pretending that they are simply not interested in politics. And are they interested in another man?
STUDENTS WILL NOT GIVE UP
As I think about it, I observe the micro-universe on Autocommand. It's been dark for a long time, and it's getting colder. Some of the students are sleeping and others are killing time in different ways. They play cards, volleyball, set up tents or just talk. I am with Angela, a student from Novi Sad. She smiles, her eyes half open and visibly exhausted.
"I like the fact that this blockade shows how much solidarity and togetherness there is among people. When I approach someone and, say, ask for water, he offers me a million other things along the way. Everyone shares, helps each other and is ready to show that we are in this fight together", Angela told "Vreme".
"This whole blockade is a big contrast to everything that the authorities are talking about. They present us as ungrateful, angry young people, who apparently have nothing more to ask for", he continues.
Asked what she thought about the latest address of the president, prime minister and president of the Assembly, she said: "They didn't say anything that we haven't heard many times - empty promises." Then he adds: "We have clearly said many times that the issue of fulfilling our demands is not the responsibility of the president, but of the institutions in whose scope it is. The president promises a lot at a time of this much rebellion, but it is not enough for us and it will not quell these blockades. Requests must be fulfilled exactly as requested, there is no room for any concessions and manipulations".
END OF BLOCKADE
Angela slowly leaves to meet her friends to play cards. I'm leaving with her. There are many blankets, tents and pillowcases on the hill that extends below Autokomanda. Students of the Faculty of Agriculture, together with farmers, are slowly leaving, accompanied by tractors. The remaining bottles of water and juices are distributed, and the last shift of the guards begins.
A voice hums from the megaphone politely reminding the gathered to pick up after themselves and not leave trash. The cleaning operation will start soon and will last for the last three hours of the blockade. And then, the students will split up. Someone goes home to rest, and someone goes to university. Faculty blockades continue.
Soon Autokomanda will again be flooded with cars, and with it, instead of the voice of the warden on the megaphone, car sirens and occasional curses from nervous drivers will ring out. Some of the banners are slowly being packed away, while those hung on the overpass above the highway remain as a reminder of the rebellion. Meanwhile, the students will plan new feats, with the message - we will not give up. There is also the most impressive one, a banner with the number 15, which reminds the victims of the fall of the canopy at the Railway Station in Novi Sad. The last 24 hours are a clear indication of how, in an instant, everything can turn upside down. The road that we used to cross almost every day now has a new meaning.
And as for the students, as Dušan S. said, "this is the night I will tell the children about".
Less than two days of blockade - that's how long it took to see how weak and powerless the public media service is, both from the outside and from the inside. At the moment of writing this text, it is the eighth day of the blockade, and the sixth that RTS is not broadcasting its program. They also seem to be facing a strike inside the house. And the essence of blocking RTS is not in what it publishes, but in what it keeps silent
In the months after the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, the flames of rebellion spread throughout Serbia. The first protests started in Novi Sad right after the tragedy. The authorities responded with arrests, police cordons and intimidation, but instead of calming down the protesters, new protests followed.
The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, has been the target of top state officials and regime tabloids for months, who label him as an insidious instigator of student protests, an opportunist, "the face of evil" and "the leader of the criminal octopus." How and why a rector became "state enemy number one"
"I'm standing in the cordon, and my daughter is shouting at me 'aw, aw, killers'. What should I do? If they ordered me - I would throw down my baton and bulletproof vest and stand on the side of my child," a police officer from the south of Serbia, who works as needed in the Belgrade Police Brigade, told "Vreme"
The recent formation of the Đura Macuta government is part of the regime's revenge and cynicism. This can be seen most in the "black troika" of new ministers appointed to deal with the parts of society that are the leaders and symbols of the big rebellion that lasted for several months, the cause of which was the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, which claimed 16 human lives. Education, universities, unsolicited media and parts of the judiciary that refuse to listen to orders, either publicly, with announcements, or hiding behind legal procedures, should be dismantled. Those who will have no problem doing everything they are told, even reinforcing the orders with their own inventions, are chosen for this.
RTS is blocked, universities do not work, and threats, insults and calls to the prosecutor's office and the police to arrest blockers, rioters and terrorists are pouring out from the top of the government. The Serbian state has turned into a farce
Anyone who condemns the regime's targeting of people from the media, the non-governmental sector, the opposition and universities, must not agree to this targeting of RTS editors and journalists either.
The government of Đur Mazut is "counter-revolutionary", focused on retaliation and state and street violence against opponents of the regime
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On Sunday and Monday, January 26 and 27, another spectacular protest (pictured) was organized by students - a twenty-four-hour blockade of Autokomanda, a key Belgrade traffic interchange. Everything seemed like a dream. Impeccable organization, messages on banners that we will remember for a long time. These protests are different from all previous anti-regime protests because of their endless creativity, wit, and branching culture of rebellion, which testifies to its great vitality and ability to intensify. And further - the citizens prepared food for the students, the atmosphere was very good, the students played basketball, tennis, farmers, bikers, taxi drivers also joined the protest.
