Yesterday, the politicians openly clashed with police while blocking the entrance to the public prosecutor’s office building in Novi Sad. Today, the situation is escalating. Heavily equipped gendarmerie officers are preventing MPs from entering the building, pushing them with shields.
According to reports by N1, these blockades were not publicly announced beforehand. Shortly after yesterday’s blockade began, members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived, asking participants to step aside and allow the court and prosecutor to perform their duties. However, MP Borislav Novaković refused, arguing that the prosecutor and courts are not performing their duties anyways.
In an interview with Mašina, Radivoje Jovović, a provincial MP from the Movement of Free Citizens party said: “We are not asking for the court to stop; we are asking for the court to actually start doing its job by applying justice impartially. We demand that those responsible for the deaths of 15 people and the two additional victims in critical condition be prosecuted and sanctioned.”
Jovović added, “The court, prosecutor, and police are imprisoning young people arbitrarily. We do not have a civic court operating lege artis—by the letter of the law. We want to free the judiciary from the influence of the Serbian Progressive Party so that it can satisfy its purpose and provide justice.”
19 days have passed since the railway station awning in Novi Sad collapsed. No one responsible for the deaths has been detained. Instead, those advocating for justice have been arrested.
A.M.
