site.btaBelgrade University Students Call on Professors to Radicalize Anti-Government Protests

Students from the University of Belgrade used their Instagram channel studenti_u_blokadi (students in the blockade) on Friday to call on their professors to enter a new, radical form of protest. The students suggest that the University of Belgrade should come up with more radical measures of resistance so that "students and representatives of the university appear as a homogeneous body fighting for the honour and dignity of the academic community".

The post strongly condemned the insults, slanders and threats directed at the rector, Vladan Dokic, and at other members of the school leadership. Is also condemned the assault on Natalija Jovanovic, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Nis, who suffered a light injury after a woman pulled a knife on her on March 30.

The students stated: "We condemn all attempts to intimidate the University! Such actions by public office holders require an immediate response. If the state were an organism, education would be the basic structure and function of a healthy body, students would be the heart, and the University would be the brain that drives everything. Unfortunately, we have witnessed the underestimation and propaganda being spread in society in recent days, which clearly undermines the credibility and autonomy of the University, as well as the freedom of expression of all members of the academic community."

Students in Serbia have been protesting the corruption that allegedly plagues their government and led to the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024. The incident resulted in 16 deaths.