Following Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s announcement that he will come to Novi Sad on Friday, September 4, for a rally organized by the Serbian Progressive Party, citizens and [students] are preparing a “[welcome]” for him. As confirmed to Nova.rs by representatives of citizens’ assemblies and the student movement, counter-rallies will be organized, to which citizens from across Serbia have been invited “to show the president that he is not welcome.”
Over the past two years, President Vučić has repeatedly announced his arrival in Novi Sad, walks through the city’s central streets and numerous rallies. The grandiose announcements ended with an index sandwich, which was eaten in secret.
Although the people of Novi Sad believed that the president had given up on visiting the city, which has spent two years awaiting accountability for the deaths of 16 people following the collapse of the canopy at the railway station, a new announcement has arrived.
This time, residents of Novi Sad believe that the president of the country will actually come. On that occasion, the citizens’ assemblies of Novi Sad organized two counter-rallies, which, as we have learned, will also be joined by students.
“We have not yet made a decision on all the ways in which we will support the assemblies, but we will certainly be with them at the counter-rally on Friday. There will be two separate gatherings in the city that will meet at Freedom Square, where the SNS rally has also been scheduled. The assemblies are organizing gatherings at different locations; some will be at the Railway Station and then walk along the boulevard toward the square, while others will set off from several directions, but the final destination is the same,” a student at the Faculty of Sciences in Novi Sad, who asked to remain anonymous, told Nova.rs.
All of Serbia has been invited to the counter-rally.
“We invited citizens and fellow students from across the country to come to Novi Sad on Friday and show their boycott. We believe there will be far more people on ‘our side,’ even if he brings all those buses of his. That ‘welcome’ for the president must be peaceful and non-violent, so that we are not later accused of violence or anything similar. The goal of our gathering is to show our boycott of Vučić and the regime, to make it clear to the president that we do not want him here and that he should not come,” the students said.
“He will come so he doesn’t look like a coward”
The students say that Vučić suffered a total fiasco in Užice and, as they claim, had to demonstrate his superiority through force, police and his own security guards, whom they describe as thugs.
“If he really dares to come to Novi Sad on Friday, and we believe he will, he will need at least 10,000 police officers because there will be far more people here who do not want him in their city. Vučić has announced his arrival in Novi Sad several times, even though he knows he is unwelcome here. The fact that over the past two years he has been here only once, and that secretly, just to eat an index sandwich, which was tragicomic, also speaks in favor of that. Now he will appear in the square in Novi Sad for the simple reason that he would look like a major coward to his own people if he failed to show up this time as well.”
The Network of Citizens’ Assemblies of Novi Sad confirmed to Nova.rs that two gatherings will be organized on Friday and that they have invited all citizens of Serbia to visit their city on this day, offer their support and show their stance.
“The citizens’ assemblies of Novi Sad have invited all of Serbia to come to our city on Friday. Students will not participate in an organized manner, but they will certainly join the boycott of the SNS rally. Although Vučić is the president of all citizens, including us, we want to show him that he must leave that position because he is unwanted, and we want to make it clear to him that he is not welcome in Novi Sad. Most likely, Vučić will come this time as he announced, because the city has been prepared and banners have been put up on City Hall. It would be inconvenient for him not to come, because he would fall in the eyes of his supporters,” representatives of the Novi Sad Network of Citizens’ Assemblies told our portal, stressing that the gatherings are non-violent and that citizens simply want to show their position.
Calls for citizens across Serbia
Following Vučić’s announcement, numerous posts calling on citizens to come to Novi Sad on Friday appeared on social media. The citizens’ assemblies also published a post calling on people, saying that “all roads lead to Novi Sad on September 4.”
“Dear Serbia, please, pay attention to this, fundamentally, as Zoran Radmilović would say, and share it so everyone can see, on September 4 all roads lead to Novi Sad. Thank you very much!”
Following numerous calls from residents of Novi Sad, citizens from across the country are organizing their own transportation to Novi Sad on social media, while people in the city are reaching out to them offering parking or accommodation wherever possible.
We remind you that an SNS rally was held in Užice last Saturday, which ended with a speech by Aleksandar Vučić, after which incidents occurred between SNS security guards and citizens.
The atmosphere in Užice was tense throughout Saturday, and according to numerous media reports, citizens expressed their disapproval as SNS supporters passed by them on their way to the buses after the rally. Police cordons also repeatedly pushed back citizens who were protesting against the SNS rally and Vučić’s arrival in the city. After the rally, a fight also broke out when SNS security guards attempted to close the outdoor café terraces on the main square in Užice, which citizens opposed.
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Source: Nova ; Foto: BetaPhoto
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