(Adnkronos) – Several hundred protesters blocked the building of Serbian public television in Belgrade, in a crescendo of tension a few days before a large protest rally scheduled for the weekend, at the height of months of anti-government demonstrations.
The students, who had already blocked the building where the television studios are located in the center of the capital late yesterday evening, gathered again today, after announcing that the blockade would last at least 22 hours. A similar protest was organized in the country’s second city, Novi Sad. Serbian university students have been protagonists of almost daily demonstrations, which began after a concrete canopy collapsed on those present at the Novi Sad railway station last November, killing 15 people. The protests shook the populist government of President Aleksandar Vučić.
The demonstrators accuse the public broadcaster of biased reporting and of siding with Vučić and the government during the demonstrations. The Serbian president was a guest on the main television news yesterday evening and warned that security officers will use force against participants in the demonstration scheduled for Saturday. He added that the protests will never induce him to resign. “You’ll have to kill me if you want to replace me,” he said.
