The protest began as many do with 16 minutes of silence for the 16 people who died when the canopy at Novi Sad’s railway station collapsed.
Afterward, speeches were given, including those by a student of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, a student of the Faculty of Physical Education, whose deans have entered the faculty accompanied by the police, the mother of the late Stefan Hrka who was killed by the collapse of the railway canopy, as well as ambulance workers who said they were fired for refusing to go on duty inside the offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party amongst government-backed counter-protestors. They noted that they did not refuse to provide medical care to anymore, but that they refused to be used as political pawns.
From the stage in Novi Sad a clear demand could be heard: snap elections now.
Serbia, can you hear us?
Just before the protest began, the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad announced that the building was ready to hold exams and other university activities.
“We expect the police to leave the Faculty building during the weekend. In that regard, in order to re-establish an environment where all students and staff feel safe and can freely enter the building, we appeal to the public that the gathering scheduled for September 5 on the University campus be conducted in a peaceful and dignified manner,” they stated.
After the speeches, students called on citizens to march toward the Faculty of Philosophy, where clashes soon broke out. Mašina’s reporters reported live on the scene.
Clashes at the Faculty of Philosophy and Police Intervention
Police quickly responded to the protest by firing tear gas, initiating an unprecedented crackdown in downtown Novi Sad.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs immediately issued a statement after the speeches, saying they had information that“participants of the unregistered gathering in Novi Sad intend to attack police stationed in front of the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education. ”They warned the public to respect the law and not attack the police, adding:“Otherwise, the police will be forced to react and take all legally prescribed measures to protect their lives, safety, and maintain public order.”
Soon after citizens arrived at the Faculty of Philosophy, clashes erupted at the entrance, followed by a large-scale police intervention. Citizens were pushed away from the campus by police and some fled to university buildings to escape tear gas.
On social media, numerous videos show police striking fleeing citizens with batons, including one where an officer pushed an elderly man with a walking aid, causing him to fall and hit his head on the curb. The man received medical assistance.
Students of the Faculty of Sciences, located next to the Faculty of Philosophy, opened their building for citizens to seek shelter. Medical teams were also present and provided assistance. When the police later arrived, the dean shouted through a megaphone that they were not invited and should not enter as they would be violating the constitutionally guaranteed right of university autonomy.
Police Enter the Rectorate of Novi Sad University
The police intervention lasted deep into the night. After the protest ended and the city emptied, police surrounded the University Rectorate and, together with Rector Madić, stormed the building.
Everyone inside was taken to the amphitheater and it remains unclear what the police planned to do with protesters. After several hours, protesters were released, but three students were detained, including members of the editorial team of the student news outlet Blokada.info.
The administration of the Faculty of Sciences condemns state repression
The administration of the Faculty of Sciences (PMF) in Novi Sad issued a statement on Saturday regarding heavy police repression on the university’s campus.
“The presence and actions of police forces inside the faculty building as well as on the university campus do not contribute to calming the situation, but rather, on the contrary, to deepening divisions among the parties involved. Involving other actors, especially the police, in academic disputes calls into question the very meaning of the autonomy of higher education institutions and weakens the chances for a peaceful resolution of the crisis,” the statement reads.
The administration of the Faculty of Sciences appealed to all actors to refrain from violence, even if it is carried out in the name of protecting rights and freedoms of expression, education, or movement, and calls on all to allow access to the faculty, including employees and students.
Police Stations Instead of Faculties: University Autonomy in Crisis
Before Friday’s protest, the Faculty of Philosophy has been under siege by police for more than a week. As a result, the freedom of movement for students and professors has been violated.
In late August, Dean Milivoj Alanović, accompanied by several professors, changed the locks early one morning and threatened striking students with disciplinary measures. Students left and police in full riot gear appeared quickly outside the faculty. About 20 of them joined the Dean inside and remained there until this past weekend.
A similar situation unfolded at the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education when Dean Patrik Drid, in the early morning, broke windows and forcibly entered the building accompanied by unknown individuals. Students and citizens quickly gathered outside, joined by police, and spent the day trying to reach a negotiated settlement.
On September 1, after a commemorative protest marking 10 months since the railway station tragedy, police used force against students and citizens gathered around the Sports Faculty, assaulting people, pushing them, and using stun grenades. Most importantly, this was the first time police entered the Novi Sad campus.
What Does University Autonomy Mean?
Such events as in Novi Sad are, unfortunately, not new in Serbia. The police has previously stormed faculties in Belgrade and in Novi Pazar, where a dean accompanied by private security and police forcibly removed striking students.
The Serbian Constitution guarantees the autonomy of universities, as well as higher education and scientific institutions, including their right to self-governance. The Law on Higher Education lists autonomy immediately after academic freedom.
Autonomy, simply put, should guarantee freedom for professors and students, free from external, namely government, control. It means no one should interfere in the academic or scientific work of a faculty. Perhaps most crucially, police may not enter a university unless invited by a dean or rector, and even then, only in life-threatening situations or when faculty property is endangered.
This raises serious questions about the justification for the police presence in Novi Sad, as well as earlier in Belgrade and Novi Pazar.
Substance Versus Formality
Historian Dubravka Stojanović, a professor at the University of Belgrade, told Mašina that university autonomy is complex, encompassing security, financial, and intellectual autonomy. In her view, all three have now been destroyed.
“Violence, police cordons, arrests, and beatings of students have put everything in existential danger. After trampling autonomy, we have reached the point of bare survival,” she told us.
She added that financial autonomy is gone since universities cannot even pay electricity bills and staff have not been paid since February. Only intellectual autonomy remains, but since the state authorities cannot control it, their repression is becoming more brutal.
“The message from Novi Sad is clear, you no longer have space to breathe. The regime hates intelligence so much and now wants to invade our minds. They will go to great lengths to defend what they have stolen from the public. That’s why they must attack media and education. But they’ve gone too far, and now everyone sees them for the thugs they are. We are defending our very existence,” Stojanović says.
Voja Radovanović, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education in Belgrade, noted that if deans Drid and Alanović invited police, autonomy was not formally broken, but has been in essence.
“Ultimately, autonomy has been broken. The images from Novi Sad and elsewhere in Serbia send an ugly message about the university, implying that police are needed for faculties to function. For me, deans throwing students out onto the street is unacceptable and further damages the university’s reputation. They have made a big mistake,” he said.
He added that students also bear some responsibility, arguing that blockades had lost their effectiveness after lasting too long.
“The Faculty Has Been Hijacked”
Smiljana Milinkov, Head of Media Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, told Mašina that the at her faculty was unnecessary and that students could have been engaged in dialogue but that the administration consistently refused.
“I was present at many negotiations. The administration never showed the minimum goodwill needed for dialogue. They only set their conditions and demands, making talks unconstructive and failing to understand their own students,” she said.
Milinkov argued that while deans may invite police under certain conditions, they cannot turn such a request into permanent occupation.
“For eight days, police have been inside the Faculty of Philosophy day and night. They literally sleep there. When colleagues try to meet with the dean, police sit in as well. This is no longer a question of autonomy. The faculty has been hijacked from staff and students. The situation is absurd,” she said.
She concluded that Monday’s police entry into the campus crossed a red line: “Novi Sad has long been used as a testing ground for repression and other tactics to intimidate citizens. The academic community must respond clearly, because otherwise this can happen at any other faculty. Someone could decide to turn a faculty into a police station.”
“A Kind of Dehumanization”
Her colleague, professor Dinko Gruhonjić, echoed her views: “On territory meant to be free and autonomous, we see fully armed police storming campuses and faculties. This is an attempt by the criminal regime to avoid responsibility for the deaths of 16 innocent people. These are people who mostly bought their diplomas and despise the very words “university”, “professor”, and “student”. What we are witnessing is the destruction of public universities in Serbia. Not even former president Slobodan Milošević reached this level of repression. Now faculty administrations themselves are leading the repression. This case is unprecedented in the history of the Faculty of Philosophy. It should be a hub of humanism, but instead we see dehumanization, and we know where that leads.” He concluded: “The aim is to frighten students and citizens. But fear has changed sides. Everything this regime does comes stems from its own paranoia and fear.
In response to the escalating repression, a new wave of protests has erupted. On Saturday, students organized a protest in front of a police station in Belgrade and today a new protest will take place in front of the main government administrative building.
I.P., M.B., A.M.
