Students from the Faculty of Applied Arts, the Faculty of Architecture, and the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, together with the initiative Ensemble General Staff, announced on social media a gathering to be held on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in front of the General Staff building, with the message “We are the human wall.”
Student Valentina Moravčević called on citizens to join the students, saying they will be a “human wall” between them and the General Staff, N1 reports.
“This is a warning action. I invite citizens to follow student networks to see further ideas. The protest will be limited, but more details will soon be available online. Cultural heritage can only be defended in the streets since, in the Parliament, MPs call conservators parasites, so all we have left is to fight in the streets,” said Moravčević.
The lex specialis was adopted on November 7, and that deeply hurts the students, Moravčević said.
“We’ve been fighting this battle for a long time. It’s been proven that the demolition is illegal, and they found a way to legalize their crimes. Since 2013, they’ve been trying to demolish and profit from the parcels—this is a clear case of corruption and abuse of power. Many people must be held accountable, and the Prosecutor’s Office must conduct the investigation to the end. If we allow this building to be torn down and this to go through, they will see us as irrelevant. The opinion of conservators is irrelevant, the opinion of experts is irrelevant. If we, students and professionals together, do not defend the General Staff, our future will be uncertain,” she said.
She added that when the canopy collapsed, the government should have dealt with that case instead of removing the protection status from a cultural monument so it could pass unnoticed.
“They did that last year when the whole of Serbia was feeling pain and sorrow. And now they waited just one day after the anniversary to push the document through, hoping it would go unnoticed and that we wouldn’t have the strength to fight on all fronts—but we do have the strength,” said Valentina Moravčević.
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Source: Nova.rs; Foto: ATA Images