A turning point in Serbia? Waves after waves, demonstrators surge on Belgrade, this Saturday, March 15, for a massive rally after months of contesting Serbian students against corruption. Flags in hand, whistles in the mouth, and pins with a bloody hand – the symbol of the movement which adopted as a watchword “corruption kills” – on the jacket, tens of thousands of people found themselves in the center of the capital. “Pumpaj! Pumpaj!” (Pump! Pump!) Sing the demonstrators to show that their energy will not weaken.
Groups of bikers, veterans and the student service, which has since started the security of the movement, were arranged from midday in the city center to avoid overflows, notably blocking access to Parliament and the presidency, before which support from government are. Dozens of farmers behind the wheel of their tractors also arrived in support of students.
Other tractors, brought by government supporters, were installed near the presidency on Friday morning. Faced with a rally that could be the most important of the last decades, power has also gathered its support, including former ultra -nationalist paramilitary. Members of the red berets, a unit of special state safety operations of Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s, were thus seen between the tents drawn up in front of the presidential seat.
The windows of official buildings have been protected since this Saturday morning, and riot police are stationed in front of the Parliament, the presidency, and the town hall. As of Friday evening, tens of thousands of people – 31,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior – welcomed in a festive atmosphere the demonstrators who came on foot, by bicycle or in a tractor from all over the country.
In a statement released on social networks, students called to demonstrate “calmly and responsiblely”. “The objective of this movement is not the intrusion into institutions, nor to attack those who do not think like us […]. This movement should not be used badly, “they wrote. The rally had to start at 4 p.m. in front of the Parliament, and disperse in the evening.
Accusations of coup d’etat from the Serbian government
The demonstrations are linked in Serbia since the accident at Novi Sad station on November 1, which left 15 dead, when the concrete awning of the building just renovated. The anger has since exploded, the demonstrators seeing in this accident the proof of corruption which, according to them, tarnishes institutions and public works. From week to week, the movement has become one of the most important in recent history in the country, with daily demonstrations.
But the rallies have tense themselves since the government accused the protesters of being paid by foreign agencies, of preparing violent actions, even a revolution, especially during the mobilization of this Saturday in the capital. The situation reacted to the UN, which called on the Serbian authorities not to “interfere unduly” in the demonstration and to “respect the complete exercise of rights to the freedom of peaceful meeting and freedom of expression”.
“We are an extremely democratic country,” replied on Friday evening during a speech, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, saying: “We will do everything we can to secure the rally”. And to add immediately: “To be clear, I am the president of this country, and I will not let the street dictate the rules.”
“The diet tries to raise tensions”
“We have already seen for a few days that the regime has been trying to raise tensions,” analyzes with AFP Srdjan Cvijic, from Belgrade Center for Security Policy. “What everyone wonders is if the government will try to create situations of violence and then have an excuse to decree the state of emergency. So far, we have seen a movement that is not at all violent […]. I think the demonstrators will keep their calm. “
“I believe that March 15 will demonstrate the deep dissatisfaction of students and citizens,” said AFP Maja Kovacevic, president of the Belgrade political science faculty. “In this regard, I think it will be an important date, but I do not believe that it should be suggested that it will be a kind of turning point in the movement, or that there will be a scenario of the October 6, the continuation,” continues the professor, in an allusion to October 6, 2000, the day after a demonstration which precipitated the fall of the ex-president Slobodan Milosevic. At the time, “the social, economic and international situation was very different”, abounds Srdjan Cvijic, “but we can imagine a situation where it would mark the beginning of the end” for the current power.