Miša Bačulov has been placed under house arrest for 30 days for causing “general danger” after he released water from a tanker during a protest, which he initially claimed was sewage.
“This decision is proof that people who don’t even commit any criminal offenses against the authorities are prosecuted, while those in power who commit much more serious criminal offenses, like the one at the railway station, aren’t even brought in for questioning or have any kind of detention ordered. When I realized that information was leaking out to many sides, I decided to take action myself and not tell anyone anything, except for a few activists from my group. The action doesn’t involve burning, breaking, or violence, but rather is a series of events that will compromise the authorities,” Bačulov told N1.
He added that the tanker contained Zrenjanin water, or water that, according to him, people have been drinking from the Novi Sad water supply since “August.”
“They accuse me of causing general danger because I poured 200, 300 liters of water in front of the Assembly. Then what should we accuse them of? They’ve been feeding our people with that same water for years,” says Bačulov.
After the protest, the Batut Institute issued a report warning that citizens were at risk of serious infection due to the “discharge of feces into city streets.”
“I knew that Batut would issue that report, to demonize me as soon as possible. Now I’m just waiting for their analysis, I’m waiting for them to compare it with Zrenjanin water. They automatically started a media witch hunt before testing, checking, or investigating anything, that’s their weapon against us, the people, who are for the truth,” he said.
He adds that the destruction of the City Hall that happened during the protest in Novi Sad – cannot benefit anyone.
“I was very sad and disappointed that I couldn’t prevent the destruction of the City Hall. That can’t benefit anyone nor upset the authorities, because it actually works in their favor – their companies are doing the reconstruction and profiting from it, and they make us into monsters,” said Miša Bačulov.
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Bačulov explained how the protest in Novi Sad was supposed to look.
“The action was supposed to look like this: we bring a tractor and raise a fuss that there is sewage there. The tractor was supposed to be a symbol, for more people to join us in the column. We gave a symbolic message – what they feed us and poison us with. The next thing was to occupy the building and let us give our demands for the removal and acceptance of responsibility. There were many elements against us – guys who were planted, as far as I know, they were given 500 euros, weapons, and instructions. Angry citizens, eager for chaos and blood, probably joined them. I tried to prevent that,” he said.
He also emphasizes that the police commander approached him while he was on stage and told him that they would receive him to submit their demands.
“As I approached, someone broke a bottle on the back of my head, a stun grenade was thrown, and it automatically stopped. After that handover of the demands, the plan was to get a ladder, climb onto the balcony of the City Hall and unfurl our flag, as a symbol of taking over the building. That information leaked, the police found the ladder and hid it in an apartment, so we didn’t succeed,” explained Bačulov to N1.
He adds that he tried to stop the destruction. “We weren’t organized as we should have been, it hurts me, we could have prevented the people from getting involved. If we had driven away the hooligans, we would have had a bigger victory than this,” he said.
Regarding the announced protest in Belgrade on Wednesday, Bačulov says that a general strike is needed.
“If the protest doesn’t lead to a general strike, to some ultimatum, to stopping the work of institutions, then it’s a protest that will be forgotten very quickly. My plan was to call on all of Serbia to go on a general strike through the microphone when we submitted our demands,” said Bačulov.
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Source: N1
Photo: N1