24-hour Student road-block protest begins

Students from across the city converged on the Autokomanda junction which connects several parts of the city but did not block the highway through Belgrade, staying on a bridge and intersecting roads leading from the center of the city to suburban areas. The Autokomanda junction includes a roundabout which lies near the Red Star and Partizan stadiums.

Belgrade’s 2 universities – Belgrade University and Belgrade Arts University – do not have a campus and their schools and other institutions are located in sites across the city. Columns of students at university schools in the center of the city converged on Slavija Circle and then marched together towards Autokomanda while others marched to the protest venue from the Vozdovac neighborhood and from as far away as the Zemun and New Belgrade areas which lie across the river.

Unlike earlier protests, there was a visible presence of traffic police patrols redirecting traffic. Several private cars were parked across the street leading from Slavija to Autokomanda, reportedly to prevent a repeat of earlier incidents when drivers tried to ram through the crowd, injuring protesters.

University School of Agriculture students were accompanied by farmers in tractors.

Earlier, President Aleksandar Vucic called the police to prevent any incidents during what he said was an illegal gathering.

The students held their daily 15-minute commemoration silence at 11:52 am, the exact time when the concrete canopy at the recently renovated Novi Sad main train station collapsed on November 1, killing 15 people and seriously injuring two others. This tragedy sparked the ongoing student protests.

Bikers arrived to show their support. “This is spontaneous on our part, we are not representing any club or organization. We are here with the students because they are our future,” said one of the bikers at the blockade.

The Belgrade DJ scene also demonstrated solidarity on Monday, with a group of prominent DJs and their friends raising funds for sound equipment to amplify the protest voices, reported The Clubber website.

Throughout the day, students engaged in various activities, including cooking, board games, volleyball, tennis, and basketball, with famous basketball player Vladimir Stimac joining them. There were performances featuring the student choir, who sang the Serbian national anthem among other songs. In the evening, representatives from several organizations addressed the students, including education unions, representatives of a Kolubara coal mine union, state-owned Belgrade pharmacy company, and the Belgrade city transport company (GSP).

Thousands of Belgraders from various parts of the city joined the students.

No incidents have been reported.