site.btaIncumbents to Protesting Serbian Students: Honeymoon Is Over!

Two and a half months after the beginning of the protests against the government and the president in Serbia, over a hundred thousand students risk losing financial support from the state and discontinuing their higher education.

"The honeymoon is over!" said National Assembly President Ana Brnabic to the protesters while chairing a meeting of the Serbian parliament's education committee on the future of the academic year, Serbian national broadcaster RTS reported.

According to Brnabic, 102,000 students are subsidized by the state and 17,000 are housed in student dormitories but could lose the right to use them.

Brnabic also said that the autonomy of universities is something absolutely sacred, but students should also bear in mind that besides the right to express their discontent, the rights of their colleagues who do not participate in the blockades should be respected.

Belgrade University Rector Vladan Djokic, who also participated in the meeting of the parliamentary committee on education, recalled that the vast majority of university lecturers support the student protests.

He also said that students are distancing themselves from politics and expressing their views "as conscientous citizens who are the future of this country".

Djokic recommended starting some form of dialogue between the students and the government, while Brnabic said that Parliament could serve as a mediator.

During the meeting of the parliamentary education committee, opposition MP Marinika Tepic said that Ana Brnabic was the leader of the people who attacked students at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts last November.

"What kind of dialogue do you call for when you beat students?" asked Tepic, accusing Brnabic of inciting aggressive behaviour with her statements.