site.btaStudents Call Belgrade Citizens for RTS Blockade Support

On the 10th day of the blockaded buildings of the Serbian national television RTS, students are marching through central Belgrade streets, seeking public support.

Since April 14, students have been preventing RTS employees from entering the main building in downtown Belgrade and the broadcaster’s studios in Kosutnjak Park, protesting against what they call the "incomplete, biased, and unprofessional coverage of the country's political situation."

Another student demand is for a new open competition to be held for the selection of members of the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM).

In an interview with Serbian news agency Tanjug, Minister of Information and Telecommunications Boris Bratina said that the RTS blockade is illegal and represents “a waste of possibly the country’s greatest media resource.”

Bratina expressed his expectation that the police and the prosecutor's office would intervene.

“What’s happening is truly unacceptable - journalists being prevented from working, food and water being barred… This is something no one can truly justify,” Bratina told Tanjug.

According to him, the blockade is an attempt by both external and internal groups to pursue their political ambitions, describing the students’ demands as political.

Bratina added that the selection of REM Council members has nothing to do with the public broadcaster. Due to the blockade, RTS has changed its programming schedule and continued broadcasting.

On Easter, Serbia’s national television issued an apology to viewers for failing to air the traditional liturgies from the Temple of Saint Sava and the Catholic Mass from the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.