Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic said on Thursday that the student protest at the Belgrade University Rectorate is a scandal which violates the autonomy of the university.

Student activists of the 1 in 5 Million initiative have been locked in the Rectorate since Friday, demanding that Rector Ivanka Popovic request the dismissal of Finance Minister Sinisa Mali whose doctoral thesis is alleged to have been plagiarized.  

Speaking at a parliament debate on changes to the law on higher education, Gojkovic said that the fact that “a group of students who belong to the political group 1 in 5 Million have taken over the Rectorate and are blackmailing the state and government something which is a flagrant violation of the autonomy of the university”.  

She also accused the 1 in 5 Million movement of “using special tactics to deal blows to its state by attacking the most vulnerable parts of society – eduation, science and culture” and added that Education Minister Mladen Sarcevic can count parliament’s support.