Tens of thousands of people took part in a mass gathering held in Novi Sad on Tuesday, 5th of November evening. Protest was held against those responsible for the fall of the awning of the Novi Sad Railway station on 1st of November, which killed 14 and heavily injured three people.
People flooded the streets yesterday evening, outnumbering any gathering Novi Sad has seen in recent history. The gathering was called upon by several different organisations, including civil society organisations and the center-right and green-left parliamentary parties and movements operating on the national and local levels.
State officials went out of their way to add fuel to the fire of citizens’ anger in the previous days. Nobody in the hierarchy of the engineers and public officials who are in front of domestic laws legally responsible persons for the quality of works included in the reconstruction of the Railway station has so far been apprehended. The Chinese state companies (the contractor) issued a statement saying that the reconstruction of the awning hasn’t been included in reconstruction of the Railway station. This was negated in several aspects by independent experts, inducing further public rage.
During the mass gathering on 5th of November, protesters spilled red paint on the offices of the Progressive party and the town hall, leaving red palm traces symbolizing bloody hands of the institutions. Manure was also pumped in front of the town hall.
The city center was packed with police forces and vehicles.
During the evening protests took a violent turn, when some of the citizens tried to enter the city hall. Windows got smashed on this and several other buildings, and stones were thrown on some of the heavily armed special force police groups – and, as footage shows, they weren’t hesitant to throw some back.
The police claim that during the night they identified 12 people who commited violent acts at the protest in Novi Sad and that they detained eight of them, reports N1. In the same address, the assistant director of the police, Colonel Dragan Vasiljević, stated that the former president of the municipality of Inđija, Goran Ješić, was arrested for attacking police officers, and that criminal charges will be filed against him.
Witnesses from the scene, however, claim that Ješić was arrested when he pushed a person in civilian clothes, with a hood on his head, in order to defend a civilian. According to their testimonies and Ješić’s statements, together with another person, the hooded person first hit a girl, and then forcefully dragged away a man who tried to protect her. A video is circulating on the Internet in which these persons, after dragging the second man down the street for a few minutes, present themselves to the citizens as policemen and take out their police badges (only after they had been surrounded by a larger group of demonstrators).
Bjelić quickly sentenced to 30 days in prison
Among the detained persons are Ivan Bjelic from the SviĆe movement and Miran Pogačar, councilor of the Bravo movement in the assembly of Novi Sad. Ješić and Miša Bačulov were detained for 48 hours. Nikola Ristić from the SviĆe movement said in an address via social networks that “high school girls with banners” were also detained.
According to the latest information, Bjelić is facing harsh criminal charges and has been detained in prison 30 days due to the judiciary’s “fear that he could repeat the act and/or influence the legal process”.
1
Where was the President to commemorate the victims?
“Miran tried to reach the President of Serbia and ask him a question regarding the responsibility for the death of 14 people in the crime at the Novi Sad Railway Station. When he tried to approach and address the president, he was pushed away forcefully. Members of the Serbian Progressive Party insulted him and threw things at him after giving a statement to journalists. After that, while he was stepping away, a van stopped, from which several persons without identification got out, who took him into custody and took him in an unknown direction. We demand that Miran Pogačar be immediately released from the location to which he was taken,” the statement of the Bravo movement states. According to the latest information, Pogačar was released in the morning hours of November 6.
Citizens pointed out that the President didn’t visit Novi Sad to commemorate the tragedy, but was quick to run to the capital of the Autonomous province of Vojvodina as soon as the offices of his party got “attacked”.
“Citizens’ initiatives” NGO demand an investigation into police conduct
Colonel Vasiljević commented that the gathering was unannounced, that the police showed maximum restraint, and that ten policemen were injured during the protest.
Numerous citizens who participated in the protest claim that there were many hooded persons among the demonstrators, some of whom later presented themselves as plainclothes policemen. On social networks, the question arises as to why none of the persons who were interrogated in the context of the demolition of part of the Railway Station building in Novi Sad were arrested and detained, while police was quick to arrest some of the protesters.
NGO “Civil initiatives” demanded and urgent, impartial investigation of the police action at the protest in Novi Sad and “legal responsibility for all those who contributed to the inappropriate action of the police”.
I.K.
