Banners with blood-red hands hang all over the university campus in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad. The spaces between the concrete-grey buildings are deserted, but at the entrance to the Department of Media Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, a student sits in front of a computer. She asks for a passport and enters the name before we can gain access to the department.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe have to do this for security reasons,\u00ab explains Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107 from the students\u2019 media group. Her fellow student Na\u0111a \u0160olaja nods \u2014 she herself has been beaten up by people who either support those in power or are simply desperate for money.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe have been told that the government pays thugs EUR 50 per demonstrator they attack. Some have even been run over<\/em>,\u00ab says Na\u0111a \u0160olaja, who, like Anja, is part of the media group.<\/p>\n Inside the corridors, mattresses and duvets are scattered around. The students eat and sleep at the department, where teaching has been cancelled. Only occasionally do they go home to take a shower.<\/p>\n On the staircase leading to the first floor stands a Christmas tree. The protests began in November when the roof of the city’s largest train station collapsed. Fifteen people lost their lives, and two remain critically injured in hospital.<\/p>\n \u00bbLosing a year of study is a small sacrifice if it means we succeed in creating a better country\u00ab<\/p>\n Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107 from the students\u2019 media group<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The train station had been under renovation for several years, with construction companies receiving millions of euros for the work. The students believe that the collapse of the roof was due to corruption and are demanding that those responsible for the construction be held accountable in court.<\/p>\n The authorities refused to comply, and so the students took to the streets in protest. They brought with them giant banners featuring blood-red hands.<\/p>\n The protesters were met with pepper spray and arrests, but the demonstrations continued. At the beginning of December, the students occupied the university and blockaded teaching activities, receiving support from many of their lecturers.<\/p>\n \u00bbNot everyone supports us \u2014 this applies to both lecturers and students \u2014 and this is fine, there should be space for all opinions,\u00ab emphasises Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107.<\/p>\n In a classroom, chairs and tables have been pushed to the side, allowing space on the floor for the painting of large banners. On the tables, paintbrushes and spray cans are lined up next to megaphones.<\/p>\n \u00bbWe are receiving support from more and more ordinary Serbians,\u00ab says Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107. \u00bbThey help us with free printing of leaflets, technical equipment, and so on.\u00ab<\/p>\n She leads the way to an ice-cold back entrance.<\/p>\n \u00bbThis is our fridge,\u00ab she smiles, pointing to shelves filled with fruit, grains, and other food items donated by the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n A fellow student walks past carrying a pot of food but declines to participate in the interview.<\/p>\n \u00bbThe government is trying to infiltrate us, which is why only members of the media group come forward with their names and pictures,\u00ab explains Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107. \u00bbIt is completely unexpected. There was an assumption that this generation of young people was politically disengaged and passive. But that was a mistake!,\u00ab says Tihomir Loza. He is a journalist and the executive director of SEENPM, a network of 19 media centres and institutes in Central and Southeastern Europe, and a long-time observer of developments in the Balkans.<\/p>\n Students from the university in the capital, Belgrade, recently walked 100 kilometres to join the protests in Novi Sad. Along the way, they passed through several villages whose residents typically support the ruling party, but the locals came out to offer the young demonstrators food.<\/p>\n When the demonstration ended and the students needed to return, a queue of taxis from Belgrade was waiting to give them a free ride back to the capital.<\/p>\n Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107 is in her fourth year of studies and could, under normal circumstances, be looking forward to graduation. She is pale but determined, shrugging with a small smile.<\/p>\n \u00bbI think losing a year of study is a small sacrifice if it means we succeed in creating a better country without corruption. All we really want is to live peacefully in a law-governed society,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n \u00bbI love young people!\u00ab<\/p>\n Elderly, anonymous man on the street<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The students have deliberately avoided affiliating with any political parties and do not want opposition politicians at their demonstrations.<\/p>\n \u00bbWe simply want those responsible for the station\u2019s construction to be held accountable and those who have attacked demonstrators to be arrested,\u00ab says Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107.<\/p>\n At the beginning of February, the students appeared to have achieved a major victory when the mayor of Novi Sad and the head of government both formally stepped down. But this has not stopped the protests.<\/p>\n \u00bbIn reality, they still hold power \u2014 no one new has taken over,\u00ab says the spokesperson for the media group.<\/p>\n The authorities continue to suppress the protestsl. The demonstrations, for example, get very little coverage in government-controlled media. But now, the blood-red hands can be seen everywhere \u2014 on walls and banners along the heavily trafficked main roads of the capital, Belgrade.<\/p>\n \u00bbMore and more people are joining us. The professional association of lawyers has gone on strike, farmers are helping to block roads with their tractors, and families with children are also taking part in the demonstrations. Even the elderly, who traditionally believed everything the government and president said, are starting to support us. Many of them know some of us young people personally, and now they are beginning to believe in us,\u00ab says Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107.<\/p>\n Her own grandparents have attended a demonstration because they trust their granddaughter\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n Before the current president, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107, came to power, Serbia was ruled for years by the dictator Slobodan Milo\u0161evi\u0107.<\/p>\n The student movement does not have a single leader.<\/p>\n \u00bbThis is our way of showing the world that there are other ways to lead than the way our country has traditionally been governed,\u00ab says Anja Stanisavljevi\u0107.<\/p>\n The students dream of a fundamental systemic change, built from the ground up. They want to put an end to \u00bbthe rot that has once again cost Serbian lives\u00ab and demand transparency in decision-making processes. Every day, they hold 15 minutes of silence \u2014 one for each of the 15 victims.<\/p>\n In front of the now-closed train station in Novi Sad, there are flowers, children\u2019s drawings, teddy bears, and pictures of a child who is no longer alive. A woman hurries past on her way from the bus, which has replaced the trains. She kneels before the flowers and makes the sign of the cross before rushing on.<\/p>\n On the pavement a few hundred metres from the train station, an elderly man stands. He will not say whether he supports the students or not, but he smiles a toothless smile and says:<\/p>\n \u00bbI love young people!\u00ab<\/p>\n On Saturday, 1 March, young people will once again take to the streets \u2014 alongside farmers, families with children, grandparents, lawyers, taxi drivers, and many more who want change in Serbia. In an attempt to fight corruption, students in Serbia are blockading universities and shutting down roads and bridges with demonstrations. According to a student spokesperson, those in power have responded by paying EUR 50 per beaten-up protester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":173855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","expression-feature_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nPublic support<\/h3>\n
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\nObservers say that, in the beginning, the Serbian government and president did not take the students seriously and had not anticipated the level of public support they would receive. But the opposition to those in power has grown significantly.<\/p>\nA shift in mentality and politics<\/h3>\n
15 minutes of silence<\/h3>\n
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"