Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, Foreign Minister Marko Đurić and Culture Minister Nikola Selaković came to the National Assembly (parliament) building last night to support student counter-protesters who set up their tent camp in Belgrade's Pioneer Park, located between the National Assembly and the Presidency, in early March.
The ministers were joined by a group of MPs from the majority party at a time when an anti-government protest was taking place on the streets of Belgrade, organized by students participating in blockades of faculties across the country.
„We came here tonight in front of the National Assembly to support people who want to study, to get education, to live and work normally and to move around normally. People who want a normal and decent country. Long live Serbia!“, Minister Sinisa Mali wrote on his Instagram account.
Serbia has been experiencing anti-government protests for more than nine months after the collapse of a railway station canopy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad on November 1 last year, killing 16 people.
The tragedy has led to blockades at more than 60 universities in the country, with students leading the protests, accusing the government and president of corruption and nepotism.
During the thousands-strong protest on Vidovden, June 28 in Belgrade - a significant date loaded with historical symbolism for Serbs, students called for early parliamentary elections and asked citizens to support them by participating in various forms of civil disobedience.
Any suspicion of excessive use of force by police against demonstrators must be thoroughly investigated, said EU Ambassador to Belgrade Andreas von Beckerath, after meeting with the Speaker of the Serbian National Assembly Ana Brnabić yesterday.
The meeting took place at a time when anti-government protests were again taking place in Belgrade and other Serbian cities, which have flared up with renewed force since the beginning of August, when two groups - citizens and supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party - got into verbal and physical clashes in two cities located in the autonomous province of Vojvodina.
The head of the EU delegation added that police actions must be proportionate and in accordance with fundamental rights, including “alarming reports of threats and violence against journalists“.
In his statement, Beckerath indicated that the current political situation and reforms in the field of electoral framework and media reform, as well as the European Serbia's path, which offers solutions to many of the key challenges facing the country, including reforms in the areas of the rule of law, media freedom, electoral reform and the creation of an enabling environment for civil society.
In this context, the EU Ambassador welcomed the efforts of the President of the National Assembly to make progress in the election of the members of the Regional Change Council and in electoral legislation, and stressed the need to ensure an inclusive and transparent process involving all stakeholders.