President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday that police intervene against the activities of the students participating in the ‘1 in 5 million’ protest who began blocking the Rectorate of the Belgrade University on Friday over allegations that the doctoral dissertation of Finance Minister Sinisa Mali was plagiarised.

The students said they are expecting to hold talks with authorities.

President Vucic said the group’s activities represents an expression of their powerlessness and wish to provoke a reaction from the police, adding that it will not happen.

“There will be no police intervention. They can do what they want, to me it is important that the Rectorate keeps functioning,” Vucic told reporters, criticizing the students for entering the Rectorate premises in shorts.

The Rectorate condemned what it said represented grave abuse of its open-door policy, saying that “this way of expressing views is not appropriate for the academic community.”

It added that it will not allow for its normal operations to be disturbed and will take appropriate legal action if deemed necessary.

According to one of the organisers of the ‘1 in 5 million’ protest, Srdjan Markovic, the Belgrade University has lost its autonomy because it lets the Government do whatever it wants in it.

He added that the Rectorate will remain blocked but that the students are selectively letting people enter.