Seventh gathering of Serbian citizens, Vučić refuses to meet demands

Today's protest 'Serbia Against Violence' will begin at 6 PM in front of the Serbian Parliament, from where citizens and part of the opposition will start a march. Organizers have announced that they will march from the National Assembly, through Kneza Miloša Street, to the Mostar Interchange. In addition to Belgrade, protests will be held in the other three largest cities – Novi Sad, Niš, and Kragujevac, while on Thursday citizens' gatherings were held in Sombor, Kraljevo, and Valjevo, and residents of Zrenjanin have been marching for weeks.

Although citizens have been protesting for the seventh week and demanding the fulfillment of their demands, the government led by President Aleksandar Vučić stubbornly refuses to meet them. So far, the resignation of Minister of Education Branko Ružić has been accepted, but nothing else has been fulfilled. Reality shows continue, while the owner of Pink TV announces new projects, Vučić refuses to give up Minister Bratislav Gašić, no one in the government even mentions the resignation of the BIA director, and no one in the government wants to discuss revoking the national frequencies of Pink and Happy TV, reports Nova.rs.

When it comes to the resignation of REM members, Vučić said that it can be discussed, but that's where it ends. The president has no problem with replacing the management of RTS, but only because he is not satisfied with how the government is treated on the public service.

Among the demands are the dismissal of Minister of Police Bratislav Gašić, Director of the Security Information Agency (BIA) Aleksandar Vulin, the removal of RTS management, and objective reporting on the protests.

In addition, citizens demand the dismissal of REM members, revocation of national frequencies for Pink and Happy TV, cancellation of reality shows and other programs that promote violence, and shutting down tabloids that propagate violence and violate the code of conduct.

So far, the demand for holding a session of the National Assembly on the security situation in the country has been met, as well as the resignation of Minister of Education Branko Ružić.

Although the demands are clearly defined, the government persistently refuses to fulfill them. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has repeatedly stated that he will never allow Gašić to resign.

„Their demand for Bata Gašić will never be fulfilled because it is senseless, the man is not guilty and he arrested all the murderers, we are not here to fulfill whims. He is one of the best among us. No one in the world would blame the police and state leadership for mass murders. That will go down in history as shamelessness,“ Vučić said recently.

He has repeated this several times, while opposition representatives have stated that if he does not give up Gašić, they will bring down the entire government.

There is also no sign of canceling reality shows. Although Vučić said he would „ask“ Pink TV owner Željko Mitrović to cancel reality shows, instead of a decision to cancel them, we got a new project.

Thus, Željko Mitrović announced that there will be no cancellation of reality shows. Instead of stopping the broadcast of this program, citizens got the finale of „Zadruga“ scheduled during the protest.

Regarding the removal of RTS management, Vučić emphasized that he has nothing against it and would always sign such a decision because the public service is „biased.“

„RTS has been taken over! Not physically, but mentally. Just look at them – they have four news anchors who like the protests, four out of five, I think, as many as they have,“ Vučić said.

About the dismissal of BIA Director Aleksandar Vulin, there has been silence for a long time, and Vučić stated that REM can also be discussed. Except for the resignation of Judita Popović, who said there was no point in working in such a body, REM remained in the same composition. Olivera Zekić is still at the helm, with no indication that anything will change.

One of the protest organizers and MP Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta said they will no longer wait.

„This is not a defensive stance, on the contrary, we will go on the offensive, we will no longer wait, march endlessly, all that is great, that scene remains in front of the Parliament, the protest in Belgrade will remain in the same format, except that this time we will also go to other places,“ he said for N1.

The co-chairman of the party Zajedno stated that the government, as before, uses every opportunity to avoid fulfilling the demands of the majority of Serbia, represented by hundreds of thousands of people.

„At every step, the government shows disrespect for citizens, as well as its cowardice and propensity for fraud,“ Zelenović said.