In the north of Mitrovica, in Kosovo, on Friday of January 24, dozens of Serbian citizens organized and held a protest in which they were in solidarity with the protests that are being held in Belgrade, thus aligning themselves against the leadership of Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia.
They started this rally with 15 minutes of silence in honor of the 15 victims of the tragedy of the train station in Novi Sad, which was the reason for organizing this protest in the first place.
Srgjan Gjorgjević, a citizen from the north of Mitrovica, at the same time the organizer of this protest, had started the invitation to participate in this organization a day ago with the call “Life is too short to be marked by fear”.
Numerous banners with slogans such as “The most difficult thing is to wake up a man who pretends to be sleep”, and chants such as “bloody hands” and “Vucic belongs in jail” were heard throughout the whole duration of the protest.
Dimitrije Rakočević, a student and young man who was part of the protest for Perspektiva Plus said that “Of course, we held 15 minutes of silence for the victims in Novi Sad. I consider that here each one is sending a message. There are as many such messages here as there are people. Each message is a viewpoint of the request for change and for freedom, and as much as there are such requests, it shows how important this change and this freedom are for us”.
On the other hand, the student parliament of the Faculty of Philosophy, based in the north of Mitrovica, has come out against this protest, distancing itself from this action and associating this opposition to the leading figures in official Belgrade as leaning and supporting the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti. “He who supports you is killing us, expelling us. Distance yourself from Kurti and others who want the dismemberment of Serbia,” wrote students from this student parliament a few hours after the call made by the organizers of the protest was public.
Asked about this, and whether he felt pressure not to go out in protest today, Dimitrije said that “There was pressure today and yesterday from the posts of the student parliament. It is dangerous to compare the student protests and the 15 minutes of silence with Albin Kurti and the removal of freedom in any way.”
Asked if he has a message to the young people who are organizing the protests in Belgrade, Dimitrije responded as follows:
“My message to the young people in Belgrade is: don’t forget us; we are here with you. And mention us sometimes”.
Some students with whom Perspektiva Plus in Kosova spoke during the protest distanced themselves from the statement issued by the student parliament of this faculty, calling it shameful and malicious.
Srgjan Gjorgjević reading the names of the 15 victims of the train station in Novi Sad
Sërgjan Gjorgjevic emphasized for Perspektiva Plus that it is not at all easy for them to maintain even this act of solidarity in the circumstances in which they are as Serbs in Kosovo, but that they are still maintaining it. It is worth noting that no action or protest of this type can be remembered before by Serbian citizens in Kosovo. So, it is happening for the first time to openly oppose the president of Serbia or the government led by his political party, which is what they did with this kind of gathering, protest.
Written by: Hanmie Lohaj
