Protesting students and citizens gathered in front of the building of state-owned public radio and television broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) in Belgrade for Serbia's second general strike on Friday.
Students carried the Serbian national flag, the flags of their faculties and a large banner that read "General Strike!"
Many thousands protesters responded to the call of some RTS employees, organized in the informal group "pRoTeSt" , and closed the traffic around the TV building.
"All RTS employees are hostages of a small number of people who choose between the law and professionalism on the one hand and benefits on the other. They slander and insult the citizens of Serbia, they have no courage and no professional honour", said one of the speakers of the informal group "pRoTeSt", referring to accusations of bias in RTS's coverage of the anti-government protests that began four months ago over the Novi Sad tragedy.
On November 1, the concrete visor of the Novi Sad railway station fell and caused the death of 15 people. The tragedy caused a wave of social discontent against the government and President Aleksandar Vucic.
The first general strike was called on January 24, also at the call of students and as a continuation of the wave of social discontent in Serbia over the past 4 months.
"There are a lot of crazy people in our country," Vucic said at the time, commenting on the calls for a general strike.
On the same day, he scheduled a rally in Jagodina (central Serbia), which marked the beginning of a new movement in the country, while the protests became a major challenge for the Serbian President.
Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned at the end of January, but his resignation has not yet been finalized because as it has not been ascertained by the National Assembly.
Two ministers stepped down from their posts last year, but they did not take the blame for the deaths of the 15 people in Novi Sad.
One of them and 12 other officials have been charged with violating public safety.
If the charges are proven they could receive sentences of up to 12 years in prison.
/MR/
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