Students and opposition supporters, demanding early elections in Serbia, have blocked a central Belgrade square and surrounding streets, Russia’s RIA Novosti agency writes today.
Students, who have been blocking the work of Serbian higher education institutions for seven months, gathered around 6 PM at Slavija Square in the city center. Traffic is blocked at the roundabout on the square and in several surrounding streets. Many came with banners and national flags. They are whistling, blowing vuvuzelas, and shouting protest slogans: “Pump it up!”, RIA Novosti reports.
The agency reminds that at 9 PM, the deadline expires for the ultimatum that demonstrators set for the authorities on June 25th, demanding a date for early parliamentary elections and the removal of the tent settlement of the president’s supporters in front of the parliament. RIA Novosti also reminds that members of the “Students 2.0” association, who have been in a tent settlement in the park near the president’s administration since early March, are holding a literary evening today in the square in front of the parliament, dedicated to the Vidovdan holiday and the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo with the Turks on June 28, 1389. They are separated from the demonstrators on Slavija Square by several blocks.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that he expects violence from demonstrators at the protest in Belgrade demanding early parliamentary elections.
RIA Novosti also reminds that trains were canceled due to an anonymous threat of a terrorist attack on all trains, as well as the case of “preparation of a coup d’état” which led to the detention of five out of six suspects.
The day the protest is held is one of the most important symbolic dates for Serbs, the Russian agency reminds.
Source: Nedeljnik, Photo: N1