The eighteenth ‘Serbia against violence’ anti-government protest was held in downtown Belgrade on Saturday with organisers and member of the National Assembly of the Republic Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta asking the opposition to block the parliament’s work, a proposition he says they’ve put ‘on the table’.
Jovanović told reporters that the proposition to block the parliament is “on the table” for opposition parties, who organise the protests, and there is a majority agreement.
“The opposition needs to block it and demand elections and then be united when they happen”, Jovanović told N1.
The protest, held a day before the three-month anniversary of the Vladislav Ribnikar school massacre, went from the parliament to the Ministries of Education and Justice. Protestors demanded to know what has been done in that time to prevent such an incident from happening again.
“Yesterday was September 1st, and the school bell rang for the first time for 60,000 first graders. But nine children will never hear those bells again. Let us show the children of Serbia that we can build a country without violence”, law student Anja Kafedžijska told the protesters.
A new, extraordinary Parliament session has been called for Tuesday, September 5th, with 25 items on the agenda. Among them are the proposal of a budget rebalance and the election of Slobodan Cvetković as economy minister.
The organisers still demand Internal Affairs Minister Bratislav Gašić and Director of BIA Aleksandar Vulin, recently sanctioned by the US, be replaced. They also call for the council of REM to be replaced and the management of national broadcaster RTS.
Among the demands was the urgent cancellation of the reality show “Zadruga” and the banning of similar “violence promoting” programs. After being cancelled in June, the reality show just saw a new season begin on Saturday – the day of the protest.
One of the demands is also for national frequencies of TV stations that promote violence to be revoked, and similar print and digital media to be banned.
(EURACTIV.rs | Bojana Zimonjić Jelisavac)
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