The session of the Vojvodina Assembly in Novi Sad lasted 45 minutes, during which time, while the opposition blew whistles and journalists were ejected from the hall after half an hour, 25 items were adopted, including the proposed budget.
Half an hour before the start of the session, around 9:30 AM, hundreds of students began arriving in front of the building in a large column, with whistles and vuvuzelas. At the beginning of the session, the opposition started blowing whistles. After half an hour, journalists were removed from the hall, and the Vojvodina budget proposal was voted on under these conditions.
When journalists left the hall, a physical incident occurred between the deputies, and an N1 journalist was attacked outside when an older man hit the microphone twice. The session ended at 10:45 AM, and 25 items were adopted in 45 minutes.
Around 11 AM, Miroslav Španović, a deputy of the PUPS party, arrived, but the students did not allow him to pass by car, by standing on the ramp.
Half an hour later, around 11:30 AM, the students went from the Assembly to the Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Gymnasium to support the students who were blockading it.
Aplauz podrške za đake Jovine gimnazije i sve đake koji su digli glas.#NoviSad pic.twitter.com/VqYijel99t
— Radio 021 (@Radio021) December 17, 2024
From 11:52 AM, there was a fifteen-minute silence in front of the school for the victims of the tragedy in Novi Sad. After paying respects, the gathering ended, and the students returned to campus.
As a reminder, just before the start of the session, students arrived at the Banovina complex, blowing whistles and vuvuzelas, and there were several hundred of them, reported a Danas reporter from the scene.
Strong police forces and gendarmerie were deployed in the buildings of the Vojvodina Assembly and the Provincial Government.
New rules for journalists to follow the sessions were introduced, allowing only the first 15 minutes of the session to be recorded.
After that, everyone must leave the hall.
At the entrance to the Assembly, security wanted to search the opposition deputies, but they pushed their way inside. The opposition in the hall is chanting slogans, the President of the Assembly Balint Juhas is conducting the session as if everything is normal, the reporter says, and security is trying to remove journalists from the hall.
Around 11 AM, journalists were pushed out of the hall, and the session continued without the presence of the media inside.
Maja Gojković said shortly before that there were no conditions to explain the budget, and she proposed to immediately proceed to voting.
FIND OUT MORE IN SERBIAN:
Radivoje Jovović, a deputy of the PSG, said that today he would only talk about three things.
About Damir Zobenica who sent thugs who were rewarded and students who are protesting. He resigned from his political position, but he should also be criminally responsible.
The second is the resignation of the President of the Assembly Balint Juhas who, as he said, abolished parliamentarism, does not allow us to speak, and turned the Assembly into a barracks full of police.
The third topic, he said, is the resignation of Maja Gojković who is responsible for verbal guarantees that the Novi Sad Railway Station is the safest in Europe.
Talking about the budget now is out of place while criminals are running the country.
Jovović said that they had submitted a request for the dismissal of Juhas and if that item is not on the agenda, he sees no reason to participate in the session.
Jovović said it was scandalous that the media cannot follow the session in the hall, or only the first 15 minutes.
Mihailo Brkić, a deputy from the Center Srce, said that he would propose temporary financing of the Province for a period of three months because the budget is smaller by as much as 40 billion dinars.
Milan Turunjan from ZLF, explaining the proposal to dismiss Juhas at the podium, said that Juhas conducted the last session in the most dishonorable way in the history of parliamentarism.
“You filled the Assembly with police and various security forces, where work was impossible. This is not the Vojvodina Assembly, but an occupation. Why are you silent about the tragedy where 15 people were killed, you did not convene an urgent session, and among us sits a person who said that it was the safest station in Europe. Juhas come to the podium and address the deputies and citizens,” said Turunjan.
MORE TOPICS:
Source: Danas, Photo: Ljubica Sokić/Nova.rs