Students firmly tell Vučić: Blockades will not stop!

(Patria) - For two full days, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has been saying that the demands of students blocking faculties in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, and Kragujevac have been met.

They claim the government has not fulfilled everything they asked for, however, Vučić is not backing down and tells them that everything has been done, and if they don't want to stop the blockades, they don't have to, because "Serbia will continue to work and develop normally from Monday".

„I just want to tell the students – your demands have been met, now it is up to the seriousness and responsibility of the academic community. You can say they haven't been met, and the whole nation knows they have. And they know they have. And a good portion of people will understand that very well. For me, the most important thing is that the public understands it. You don't want to admit that it has been fulfilled? You don't want to end it? We have no problem. You continue with that, from Monday we will deal with all other topics, and you do your job, freely. Lie down, sleep, you don't have to study anything, you never have to study, that's your business. Serbia will continue to work and develop. The only thing we will not allow you, or anyone else, is to carry out any violence against people, institutions, and facilities, but you can do everything else as much as you want“, Vučić told the students, reports Nova.rs.

Anđela Jeremić, a student of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, who attracted great public attention during the blockade of the Rectorate building of the University of Niš, and later when she appeared on the show „Utisak nedelje“, once again denied Vučić's words, saying that the students' demands have not been met and that the blockade of Niš faculties will continue.

„Niš students did not have a demand for an increase in funds for material costs for faculties, so none of our demands have been met. Our demands are related to the opening of documentation regarding the reconstruction of the Railway Station in Novi Sad, as well as the criminal prosecution and pursuit of those responsible for it and their removal from political and general positions of those who participated in it. In that demand, also, regardless of what the president said: ‘Here is the documentation’, our demand has not been met“, she emphasizes.

She notes that the students know nothing about that documentation and that the president should not have released such documentation.

„It should have been done by the body that advocates for it, the president does not release documentation about such matters. He has not fulfilled that demand for us, nor is he the one who should have fulfilled it. He should have just let people do their job. That did not happen. So, our demand stands until the end. Not only the opening of documentation but also the fulfillment that everyone who was involved will be prosecuted and held accountable for what they are guilty of“, she explains.

Anđela also reminds of the second demand of all students, which primarily concerns their colleagues from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, reports Nova S.

„Our second demand was that all demands of the students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts be met, with an emphasis on the prosecution of the people who beat them. We already knew who those people were, but we are asking for their identities to be confirmed, for them to be prosecuted and removed from the positions they hold. Yesterday, we had a situation where three men from that list resigned, and there are four of them, and that is a big step. With the current pressure, they should be resigning themselves. But, in the meantime, other people who attack students are coming forward, and they must be prosecuted. This demand applies to all future actions, not just this one.“

The last demand concerns the pressure faced by all those who publicly express dissatisfaction with the situation in the country.

„We have a demand that the pressure, attacks, and targeting of students, professors, and citizens who publicly express their dissatisfaction must stop. So, these demands do not concern just one specific person, and the demands are complete. No! The demands concern the absolute overall atmosphere, and the demands are ongoing and will continue“, says this student.